trouble starting a uhh.. Verada :/

[PUSHIN]

alrighty yeah thats fair, but to fill you in i've actually had a chance to do some sh** recently, feel free to give up on me if ya want, your call really, but i bench tested the new starter, fail, retested the old one and i don't know what the **** was going on last time as i did the exact same thing, but she went no issues. so obviously i attempted to try the new one several more times to make sure i wasn't failing at something, the solenoid would fire but it won't actually spin, the old one moves out & spins. (freely)

Put the old one back in the car (obviously) with no change. the battery terminal clamps were near on screwed anyway, so I got some decent ones for it, I tested the earth (which i want to do again to be certain). and i also used another piece of cable to substitute the small start wire, all i see left is the big + to the starter and unless i can find some relays or fuses i think most of its ruled out?

I wanted to find out what was clicking when i turned the key to try start the car though, i had a rough idea it was the ecu but upon holding it and turning the key it's definitely the ecu, just not 100% sure if this is supposed to happen or not so it doesn't tell me much.

But for the record, the reason why i didnt get the chance to test the new starter is that it was in the car, its been wet as all hell, and i've been regularly taking my brother to work and picking him up (often picking him up after midnight). not to mention I have other cars & things to deal with also, plus the car isn't actually HERE, if it were everything would be done more or less straight away, but its not easy for me to go up and spend a few hours messing with it as i don't tend to have a lot of free time.

I apologise if i seemed ignorant doing everything EXCEPT what you said, but that is not what i was trying to do, i was trying to avoid getting under the car in puddles (or wet 2ft long grass -.-) & i didnt want to be leaving a starter off in this weather so I figured i should do it when i have some time to do anything that may need doing. also, i know i'm good with the long essays >.< i really try not too just i find it far better to properly elaborate so everyones clear.. sorry about that lol..

 

[ari666]

yeah understood. annnyway, so you put the jump lead directly on the starter, right?

 

[PUSHIN]

when bench testing? yes i did. the 'reco' one from the wreckers failed, the old one then worked, so i tried the reco again which still failed.

I went up yesterday with a ~1m length of cable (2 awg i believe) and used it instead of the main + to the starter, then used a separate bit of wire for the small starter wire and touched it to the +, that did not work, so I removed said 2 awg cable, put the original starter cable back, and used the 2 awg as a replacement for the earth cable, still no go. I'm having a bit of trouble understanding how I can replace these cables (with good ones) and it still won't work, yet with the ~20 year old jumpers it works while out of the car. >.<

Edit: I also noticed within the last couple of days, the car builds up a lot of condensation. I noticed condensation around the face of the ignition barrel, further inspection showed some also on the ecu & wires for the ecu, the top half of the engine seems to cop it as well.. not sure if it might have something to do with the problem..

Also, just remembered the starter actually did turn over once, I'd googled problems similar to this about veradas and people said things like ignition barrel, and ignition module etc, so I started checking connections of wires within a few inches of the distributor and one at the base of it and the ignition module, (~6 plugs in total) upon playing with them a bit and going back and turning the key, the starter (slowly) turned over 2 or 3 times (didn't start the car) i went back and rechecked the same wires several times but no go, debating weather its a sign or a coincidence :/

 

[ari666]

so: when you are saying u used a seperate small wire to the starter, you mean you ran a wire to the + battery terminal, then touched it on the lug of your starter?

 

[PUSHIN]

correct (the small lug), i did indeed. I tried this several times, once whilst the earth had been replaced, another while the bigger + to the starter had been replaced.

I've also checked the neutral switch, it seems to be functioning fine as when i turn the key in park the ecu clicks, when its in any gear it won't do anything at all. (pulled centre console up and checked wires, all look to be okay)

EDIT: *sigh* after so much stuffing around, and being puzzled about why the new 'reco' starter won't work, called wreckers it was obtained from, spoke to me like i was some kind of idiot, 'we bench test everything before it goes out.' '..well, i bench tested it, several times, on different days etc, and uh, it don't work' 'well it worked when we bench tested it, bring it in and we'll test it again but im sure it works' 'yeaah, righto bud.' problem with that is, that it's about $40 fuel away, they only had one starter originally, rarara, i imagine i'd be making two trips, $220 for a APPARENTLY reco'd starter, na bud i'll be sweet.

Anyway, playing around with the starter, connected the + to the OTHER big bolt i believe, the starter spun beautifully, minus the solenoid shooting out. (just every time we try bench test it correctly, it will NOT spin, and the solenoid does a crappy job shooting in and out while everything shorts out) moral of the story, turned out the solenoid was fried and i'll assume could not carry the current back through to the actual starter, so being that the old starter bench tested fine, i came to realise that it seemed okay bench testing, but was not strong enough to turn over the car, so i put the solenoid off the OLD starter, onto the 'reco' starter, and off it went. -.-' bloody wreckers, as soon as i changed the battery i was confident the starter was cactus, as it sounded very weak for days, wreckers aw nah mate we bench test everythin' guarantee it works. good on you mr observant, how thoroughly was it really bench tested? -.- absolutely stumped me when the bloody thing was shorting out, soon worked it out when i got the starter itself to function... pshhhh >.<

Thanks heaps for the help though guys, I very much appreciate all of the efforts to solve the problem, and all of the great inputs bloody Verada -.- lol