Auto issue, No crank/start full battery, 1/2 Solved

[knave]

I never would have guessed what it was...

I drove home for lunch the other day, ate and hopped back in the car to go back...it would not start. There was power and everything worked...Hmmm Checked fuses, its an Auto so I put it in Neutral just in case...no luck. Ok maybe the battery voltage is low? I had to get back to work so I disconnected the negative, hooked up a 2 amp floating charger, and used my Motorcycle to get to work. (battery was fine)

When I got back to it, I checked the relays, battery and starter solenoid voltage with a Multi-meter, all good.  Ok, put it in run and jumped the starter, Fired right up.

Ok at this point I know its either the Transmission Neutral safety (or whatever it is called on an Auto) or the ignition switch. But do I jump the starter and take it to a shop?
...Well I decided to take the ignition apart. Guess what...it was a mechanical failure not an electronic one. A part of the ignition switch actuator had broken...the part that twists and engages the starter.
I took the little piece out, fit it together with JB weld and it's drying right now.

Hopefully the repair will be robust enough to handle the torque of the twisting motion that engages the switch. If not I will have to order a new one, depending on how much of it is an "assembly" I might not have to spend a ton of cash.

I'm not out of the woods yet but I'm gonna give it a shot. Hopefully if anyone else has a similar problem this post might give you some Ideas.

BTW, pretty much all the electrical diagnostics I learned to do right here on the board, so thank you!

[ChadTower]

Heh, that's almost as bad as the time I got stuck at work because the shift lever button on my car broke and was wedged such that I couldn't move out of park.  I had to walk to a hardware store to get a couple of tools to remove the shift lever cap so I could drive the car. 

[knave]

If we are going to tell those kind of stories...

- I had the button fall out of my key fob, so I could not disarm the alarm...Open door with key, alarm goes off and car won't start while alarm is armed...there I am on the phone with them trying to figure the code to disarm it manually...while it is blaring and the folks whose house I just delivered bad news to are staring at me from their window. 

[lilshawn]

Stuck 500 miles from home...broken clutch. No cash to call a tow truck, no tools... spend the day trying to figure out what's wrong. Checked master cylinder, slave cylinder...all moving properly...broken or bent clutch fork or toasted bearing?! Spend night in car. Later in the early AM (after pondering over it all night) decide to somehow get it home on my own...

start car in neutral let it warm up to operating temperature...
shut off engine, engage 1st gear, start car in gear...chug chug chug herk jerk. 
speed shift through all gears since there is no clutch anyways... (I'm actually pretty good at this...now)

Have to repeat procedure several times because of red lights until home.

It was a long ass trip wondering if the clutch or something else was going to cave and REALLY leave me stranded.

After an extensive teardown (rear engine RWD), seems the hub springs on the friction plate broke and wedged themselves into the pressure plate so i couldn't disengage the clutch.

At least the fix was easy enough.

[DaOld Man]

You drove 500 miles like that? You win the brass balls award.

[yotsuya]

A cap kit and new Big Blue should fix that for you.

[knave]

Best I have done is drive 60 miles in a van when the power stering was out. I was really sore afterword.

I almost forgot to mention I injured myself right before thr drive in a judo tournament.

I will call.a.tow truck next time.

[lilshawn]

Best I have done is drive 60 miles in a van when the power stering was out. I was really sore afterword.

I almost forgot to mention I injured myself right before thr drive in a judo tournament.

I will call.a.tow truck next time.

been there done that. ran though a snow berm and got a huge chunk of ice jammed up under my car and ripped a hydraulic line. power steering bled out. made 'er home strong arming it. took it like a trooper. Didn't even have to replace the pump. good old dodge. don't make them like that anymore.

[ChadTower]

Heh, I had a Buick for a couple years that had dead power steering.  Drove it like that the whole time.  Had to learn to plan my turns out way ahead of time and always keep the speed low just in case.

[danny_galaga]

I drove from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix without power steering. I was a broke arsed backpacker in a piece of crap Mustang. Mechanic in Phoenix could see this. He said it would cost about $600 to fix the power steering (in 1996!), but for 35 bucks he would stretch a fan belt onto the water pump pulley to bypass the power steering and pump up the front tyres nice and hard  Drove like that from Phoenix to Vancouver. On the way the catalytic converter fell off too. I just drove it like that for the next 4 months or so I owned it. Normal driving was quite easy. Parking was the hard part, and forget parallel parking...

edit: forgot to mention that 35 bucks included two second hand tyres (",)

[Typefighter01]

Spend night in car.

 

[lilshawn]

Spend night in car.

 

uncomfortable as all hell too...

it was a 1987 Pontiac Fiero. No reclining that seat back. 

[ChadTower]

it was a 1987 Pontiac Fiero. No reclining that seat back. 

How did that thing not burst into flames while you were sleeping?   

I knew three people who had those back in the day.  All three lost them to engine fires.

[lilshawn]

it was a 1987 Pontiac Fiero. No reclining that seat back. 

How did that thing not burst into flames while you were sleeping?   

I knew three people who had those back in the day.  All three lost them to engine fires.

yeah, the car is cursed.

yes, this fiero was actually on fire at one time...not related to the coolant leaking and subsequent fire issue you half mentioned there, but on fire nonetheless...

Before I got the car my uncle's friend owned it and it had gotten stolen. It was found high centered on some railroad tracks with it's ass end drive section hanging off. It was in the hands of ICBC for repairs. While being repaired in ICBC's warehouse it caught on fire. (ripped fuel line + cutting = bad time) ICBC ended up having to replace all the injectors and most of the wire harness in addition to the engine cradle, transmission mounts, tires, wheels, etc. to get the car back going again.

Later on after I bought it and before the clutch issue i told everyone about, I started having issues with the car eating ignition modules and dying on me. I found out it was because of finding subsequent shorts and melted wires. Seems they half ass checked over the harness and only replaced the obvious burned sections. In fact there was a time in particular that i was driving in town during a rainstorm, went around a corner to a merge lane... and just as i hit the apex of the corner the engine dies, backfires and the car ass end swings around on me and I end up rolling backwards into a side road that thankfully ran perpendicular to the highway just off the merge lane. everything basically locked up the motor all but died. couldn't get it started at all.

but yeah, after the clutch thing i'd had about enough of the car and sold it to my uncle. He had a hell of a time with it too. Ended up getting rear ended in it...but not enough for a writeoff. Thing is still hanging around.

[knave]

Bah! my repair attempt failed, the joint could not handle the torque. Good news is I ordered the part for $30.