On the track car, after everything is nice and hot, I often have to cycle the key 4 to 5 times before the starter will engage. When the key is in Crank mode, I can hear the fuel pump, but I'm not sure if the starter is being energized and just jammed or what.. I think the starter is only two or three years old, but I need to check my maintenance logs to confirm.
The problem I have trying to troubleshoot it is that if I wait a minute or cycle the key a few times, it starts perfectly again until I run the car for a bit... So I'm not sure how to troubleshoot it, since I wouldn't know if I fixed/verified something, or if I just waited long enough that it's no longer a problem.
Any suggestions?
I'd be looking at the solenoid given the heat, but it should be easy enough to tell if you can get a multimeter on it. That'll at least tell you if the switch is doing basic switching.
My own street Miata has a damaged wiring harness (bloody alarm installers) that has high resistance to the solenoid, and sometimes it won't have enough juice to trigger. THe nice thing is that the Miata cranking system is super-simple.
My turbo is acting like this, I'm leaning toward a wonky neutral safety switch because if I cycle the clutch a couple of times it fires right up.
KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:
My turbo is acting like this, I'm leaning toward a wonky neutral safety switch because if I cycle the clutch a couple of times it fires right up.
That's really easy to test - but I can't say I've heard of that failure.
I'll see if I can trigger the solenoid manually when it happens..
I do have the clutch switch bypassed.. do these have a neutral switch?
Gotta love 90s alarm system installers :)
They don't use a neutral switch in the starting system. No point with the clutch switch.
Keith Tanner said:
They don't use a neutral switch in the starting system. No point with the clutch switch.
That's what I thought, thanks.
In for the reply. My 90 has done the same thing for years. The clutch in and out trick sometimes works for me too (or it may be a placebo as i continue turning the key too). I have replaced ignition switch, battery terminal clamps and a starter in that time and it still does the same thing. I even have the lower cover off under my steering wheel because sometimes a jiggle of those wires seems to do the trick.
Anxiously awaiting answers here as well. And it did have an alarm that i pulled out years ago also.
An update for anyone playing along (CapriGrip).
I haven't found anything conclusive after inspecting relays, starter wiring, etc., so before the last track day I replaced the key switch.
That seems to have done it. I didn't have a single issue all day. Maybe you got another bum unit when you replaced yours?
I'll update the thread if anything changes, but unfortunately this problem takes months to work through.
The kid has a 97 with this problem. PO had an alarm on it too. We have shot alot of parts at it, I guess we need to look at messed up wires from the old alarm
