Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

Well guys wish me luck, gonna pick up a battery for the car today & see if anything at all works in there.
Before I took it apart I stuck a battery in to move it a bit & absolutely nothing happened when I turned the key!
 
If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all!
So I go out to do a simple little thing, put the battery in & I notice the brown wire to the starter relay broke off, well first I can't get the clip to release from the plug, end up slicing it open, then my soldering iron decides not to work, put a new tip on & at least got that working.
Soldered the wire back in, put it in the plug & super glued my slit! 20240326_151203.jpg
With that done I lay the battery in & get out the clamps, put the long one in & move to the short on by the inner fender, well it's many inches too long, check the other set & that's too long too! 20240326_152416.jpgGonna try & cut it down & re-thread it?
I think I'm missing the clamp that connects to that nut on the inner fender, that I can probably make something up. 20240326_155900.jpgwired it up & started praying.20240326_155909.jpgWell the powers that be dicn't hear my prayer.
put in the key & all I get is the seat belt buzzer, plug in my seat belt & still buzzing till I completely remove the key.
Then I hit the start, nothing nada zilch, after a few hits I get a faint click from under the dash I think.
So I get my starter buttons & jump at the starter relay, nothing there either.
Now shouldn't that be direct to power the starter?

So I go back in & see if anything else works, nothing to the radio, I get headlights front markers & parking lights up front, nothing out back.
Didn't have a dimmer knob on so don't know if I have dash lights or not.

Then I notice my release lever for the key isn't snaping back, I have to move it by hand!

I'm in trouble, Car wiring has always befuddled me & I never really tried to dig in, I guess now I have to, lost my local assistance that at least knew more than I.

Not sure what I'm going to do now!
 
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RUSTY Cuda said:
Now shouldn't that be direct to power the starter?
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If you did it right, yeah. Touch from the battery connection and the solenoid connection it should bump the starter.
RUSTY Cuda said:
Not sure what I'm going to do now!
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Break out the DVM and start studying the wiring diagram. Could it just be the fusible link? I guess not since you've got a seat belt buzzer calling out for help. Hopefully you just left something unplugged.
 
going back a ways, the car was running when I parked it back there, then years later when I was just trying to move it over a little before I took it apart this is what I got back then too, but I just gave up & tore into it.
Figured with a lot of new parts & some wiring (bay harness) I might get lucky when this day came, should have know better!
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
View attachment 27423Gonna try & cut it down & re-thread it?
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Don't try to re-thread. You'll notice that the outer diameter of the threaded portion is slightly larger diameter than the remainder of the shank. You'll end up with crappy threads. Carefully measure and cut off the hook(s) and re-bend. Heat will become your best friend for this. You don't want to leave more than about one inch above the hold down bracket.
 
K, was thinking, which I probably shouldn't do, but I have a new ignition switch, can I plug that in outside the column & operate it without the key mechanism on it?
Just to eliminate one suspect?
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
K, was thinking, which I probably shouldn't do, but I have a new ignition switch, can I plug that in outside the column & operate it without the key mechanism on it?
Just to eliminate one suspect?
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I would say it would be a waste of time to try the switch without the key because of
RUSTY Cuda said:
Well the powers that be dicn't hear my prayer.
put in the key & all I get is the seat belt buzzer, plug in my seat belt & still buzzing till I completely remove the key.
Then I hit the start, nothing nada zilch, after a few hits I get a faint click from under the dash I think.
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I would start near the battery. Are you sure that's fully charged and isn't sagging under load?

I don't remember and don't have time right now to look back, but did you successfully jump the starter at the relay?

Does the starter trigger wire from the key to the starter relay go to ground with 12v from the relay to the starter when the key is in the start position? If that doesn't happen, there's something wrong between the starter relay and the key.

The lack of rear lights could indicate you need to double check the plug on the driver's kick panel (IIRC), and confirm at least one bulb out of those works outside the system if you haven't already. Also make sure things are grounded back there.
 
OK, thinking starter, it shouldn't be, I put a new mini starter in when the car got here, not a lot of start ups at all, any way. here's the 2 wires I'm putting the starter button on.
Can't see my red arrows that good, the 2 exposed terminals red to black.
Voltage is 12+ change on the brand new battery, when I hit the starter button reading about 8 at the black wire terminal.
remembering some crazy thing I did back in the day I gave the starter a few wraps with a hammer, no help! 20240327_124126.jpg
So I'm gonna pull the starter, is there any other test I can do once its out I hate to waste another 100 or so & find out it wasn't the starter?

Oh yea, when I bought this starter someone told me order one from a 70 something dakota.
what exactly should I ask for at the autozone?

Since it looks like I'm messing with the hot side where exactly is the ground for the starter?
 
Sounds like a bad battery or connection to me, other than it's brand new. It shouldn't sag all the way down to 8v so maybe it's the starter. Got a charger with a starter boost circuit on it?

Also did you probe the big red wire with the key on? Does it sag there too?
 
OK, just fought getting the starter out, didn't do the key thing, do you mean just in on position or start position, that I can't do alone?

Gonna see if my guy can bench test it I'll mention the drop off to him & see if it tells him anything?

Check back in in a while
 
K, starter is dead.

So what should I ask for at the auto parts store, don't want to go through the yellow anti freeze thing again, I look dumb enough!
 
Holy maceral, summit has about 8000 of them, I had a hard time worming that thing out of there actually had to turn the wheels & it finally dropped out, anything bigger I'm afraid won't go.
This was from napa back when I got the car, 15ish years ago.
Couldn't find any part #'s on it or even a brand? 20240327_143612.jpg20240327_143622.jpgDid notice one thing pulling it that gray rubber is really close to the headers?
 
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So in order to accomplish something positive today I started on the battery hold down, made the bend & got the end cut off & then go to put it on & there's a worn down spot right where the nut has to tighten, not much room to go further up or down, so I take a look at the fat on, that shaft seems like I can thread it, so I ran the die past the existing threads & got good new threads, so I cut that down threaded it & got it painted, will go ahead & see if I can use the other fatter one & get that ready.20240327_170057.jpgMixed up a tiny bit of clear & got that on the door chips & finally shot some self etch primer on my 4 way!20240327_170048.jpg
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Couldn't find any part #'s on it or even a brand?
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You need a starter for anything with a Magnum V6 or V8 and you're done. I used 1999 Dakota because that's what I've got. Don't waste money on those high-priced race starters. Factory will do just fine.

On my first try at a starter for my duster that gray rubber sat right on the header, zero clearance. The second one wasn't a lot better but it's going to have to do.
 
K, auto zone had the 99 starter, but as with yours it had the pin instead of the stud, i asked if there was another brand & he said if that's what the 99 had they will all have it, the guy was pretty good ne messed around looking up other mopars with a 360 & came up with one that had the studs, but not in stock, will be here tomorrow, I asked him to hold my core to compare tomorrow & he agreed.

Yours was a tad shorter & smaller, probably would have made my life easier, but when He couldn't order the proper connector for the pin I opted to wait & see what the other looks like!
Not a place I want a homemade connection!

So I get home & my A/C kit is being dropped off, I pick up the boxes & they were awfly light, ask the driver if there's another box, he said no. Calledclassic air & they said it should be in there & are checking with shipping as we speak, waiting on a call back.

Can one darn thing go right with this car!!!!!!!!!
 
That pin is going to be a problem, just wait and see. I've got to go to the store to return a starter, going to hold on to my core until I know I can get something to connect to that because I might end up returning it for something with a stud connector on it.

I thought it was just a blade connector so I could easily make one, then I looked closer and see it's not that at all. I'm hoping I can figure out what it is I need and get it from Dorman or similar.

ETA, well it doesn't look like I can get a starter without a plug-in on it at any nearby Advance and of course Dorman makes a pigtail for everything but the starter solenoid.
 
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I was thinking in worst case scenario maybe buy a battery cable for the 99 also, that should have the proper connector on it?
I'll see what come in tomorrow, I'm still up in the air!
 
Googled it, only one that had anything but the regular connector was sorensen 13A46-6TA tat had 2 little ones at the starter on spade for a lug & one that looked like a straight connector coming out the other direction .
It did give me a mopar part #, 56020393 when I googled that they all had the regular round connector???
 
Battery cables aren't cheap. I don't see myself shelling out $50 to work around that kind of problem. $10? Yeah. Not $50.

I just did a quick google and every 1999 Dakota battery cable I find has a ring terminal for the solenoid.

Apparently we were both googling the same thing.
 
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