Holden VH Kill Switch

[James_W]

Friend of mine bought a VH and we're having a hell of a time trying to start it up for the first time; previous owner dropped a 304 efi in there but never got it going, isn't responding to my mates messages anymore so we're sort of on our own.

We replaced the fluids and fixed all the leaking fuel injectors etc (whole thing was a massive mess).

When it came time to startup; ignition came on but absolutely nothing when turning the key....so:
1. Found the relay for the starter and tested it = Relay working fine
2. Bypassed the relay and all was good = Starter working fine
3. Struggling to trace the cable, it's a single purple cable that runs through the firewall but I can see 3 purple cables inside the car:
1. 1x in the steering column
2. 2x on the shifter

Tried every button I can find, tried the neutral safety switch method, tried putting it in gear etc. We honestly have no idea what it could be and need some wisdom from someone with experience on these engines as we've only played with LS's before and have no idea what we're doing beyond a few basic googles searches.

Any help or suggestions is appreciated!

 

[Vin999]

without being there or see how the efi is actually wired with colours to what electrical poarts from what car/engine/loom and ecu is from, would be dangerous to give advice,

Usually with efi issues are generally auto neutral/detent connections and vats cleared on ecu's and fuel pump/wiring issues.

Find out what old motor/trans the vh had before conversion.
Find out what car the efi motor/trans came out of.
Get wiring diagrams for the vh car and for the car where the efi motor came from and start tracing wires to understand how it was hooked up into the vh loom, that will explain what the wiring colours are and should go to with how the relays and electric fuel pump has been set up.

 

[James_W]

without being there or see how the efi is actually wired with colours to what electrical poarts from what car/engine/loom and ecu is from, would be dangerous to give advice,

Usually with efi issues are generally auto neutral/detent connections and vats cleared on ecu's and fuel pump/wiring issues.

Find out what old motor/trans the vh had before conversion.
Find out what car the efi motor/trans came out of.
Get wiring diagrams for the vh car and for the car where the efi motor came from and start tracing wires to understand how it was hooked up into the vh loom, that will explain what the wiring colours are and should go to with how the relays and electric fuel pump has been set up.

Thanks for your response. I think everything else is hooked up properly as all the electricals that we have tested so far work; fuel pump definitely primes during ignition and even the starter is hooked up properly it's just the switch for the relay that I can't find.

I feel like getting to a point where the car actually cranks is the way to go and then troubleshoot further from there.

 

[gtrboyy]

Thick purple is solenoid starter...vh will have plug firewall/booster area.

Normal size purple wire off ecu can trace back to plug to find what it is will usually be speedo signal.


Purple wire off ignition snakes down column to inhibitor on shifter where it makes circuit in park/neutral then back through harness to fuse box/relays then through firewall to engine harness plug near booster.


Put testlight to purple wire at booster turn key...if nothing work back to inhibitor or ignition switch test same way.Might even just need to adjust or wiggle shifter or slider bar thing for ignition.
Probably something simple just go over everything untill fluke it.

 

[Vin999]

Thanks for your response. I think everything else is hooked up properly as all the electricals that we have tested so far work; fuel pump definitely primes during ignition and even the starter is hooked up properly it's just the switch for the relay that I can't find.

I feel like getting to a point where the car actually cranks is the way to go and then troubleshoot further from there.

ah ok , sounds better than the (whole thing was a massive mess) you said.

What car model did the motor/auto/ecu come out of ?

 

[James_W]

ah ok , sounds better than the (whole thing was a massive mess) you said.

What car model did the motor/auto/ecu come out of ?

Ah my bad was more referring to the leaking fuel filter & injectors haha (very frustrating to clean)

Was told it came out of a VN SS, it has a T700 trans

 

[James_W]

Thick purple is solenoid starter...vh will have plug firewall/booster area.

Normal size purple wire off ecu can trace back to plug to find what it is will usually be speedo signal.


Purple wire off ignition snakes down column to inhibitor on shifter where it makes circuit in park/neutral then back through harness to fuse box/relays then through firewall to engine harness plug near booster.


Put testlight to purple wire at booster turn key...if nothing work back to inhibitor or ignition switch test same way.Might even just need to adjust or wiggle shifter or slider bar thing for ignition.
Probably something simple just go over everything untill fluke it.

Will try that tomorrow. Thank you!

 

[Vin999]

Ah my bad was more referring to the leaking fuel filter & injectors haha (very frustrating to clean)

Was told it came out of a VN SS, it has a T700 trans

Thats good makes it easier, just take your time and trace the suspect wiring, hopefully its just wrong neutral switch positions back to loom ignition key, don't trust the colours used just in case, trace the ends.

 

[James_W]

Thats good makes it easier, just take your time and trace the suspect wiring, hopefully its just wrong neutral switch positions back to loom ignition key, don't trust the colours used just in case, trace the ends.

Thanks man, will do that tomorrow. We're a little apprehensive about removing too many dash components to trace the cabling properly so we were just trying to match the colours but perhaps it's time we grew a pair haha

Only found the 2 purples under the shifter tonight so will throw a multi meter on them tomorrow - haven't been able to do that for the steering column purple wire one because it runs straight to the ignition which we can't figure out how to access (solid metal piece).

 

[Immortality]

VH never Had a starter motor relay so the starter motor was powered directly from the ignition switch via the purple wire, through the neutral safety switch directly to the starter solenoid. That purple wire is part of the original engine bay wiring loom and will now need to be connected to the trigger wire on the starter motor relay in the EFI loom relay/fuse panel.

The VH ignition switch is powered via the big red wire, when you turn the ignition to start it should have 12 volts on the purple wire. Because of the lack of starter motor relays in the early models this tended to burn out the ignition switch when they get old due to the high current.