Electrical Problem: Starter Relay Fail...

[ajbremer]

The newest Festiva that I got had all kinds of hotwiring done to it so I tried my best to get it back to it's original state. The guy has a push button connected to the each place on the starter and a battery cable goes directly from the positive to the starter. There was all kinds of shananagins going on at the fusable link terminal that I shouldn't try to describe.

Anyway I grabbed the original batter positive cable and hooked it up and noticed that the smaller wire seemed to be corroded and broken so I spliced and jumped it to the positive. I removed the push button wires and hooked up the normal positive terminal at the lower part of the harness to the batter bolt (the larger bolt). I then put normal (old style) fusable links (3 of them) into their place.

When I turned the key to the first position, things turned on but when I tried to start it ... all got quite and it didn't work. So I hooked up the push button and the car starts and runs fine but there's a few wrong and weird things going on. The lights are on all the time and when the car is totally off the lights won't come on. Also, the radiator fan is on all the time. The starter solenoid (small terminal at the starter) must not be getting juice when the key is turned on.

There also may be some weird wiring going on under the dash, I just haven't checked that yet. Any one know what's up here?

[Movin]

Ouch! That former wiring wizard did the car no favors. I would suggest fixing one problem at a time. Maybe start with the no crank problem, then the lights and so on. Guys on here will chime in to help, its great. If you pull the lower clam shell plastic off the steering column the electric part of the ignition switch is easy to access with a test light.

[bravekozak]

Starter connector terminals were corroded and pulled out on my '89 wire harness also. I released the terminals from the original connector and reterminated with brand new shiny brass open barrel terminals. They both have different gauge sizes. I reused the same stock plastic connector. The wire was only shortened by about 1/4".

There are a couple of clues. The white wire from the fusible link goes to both the alternator and the ignition switch on your steering column. The white wire is hot at all times. The smaller black/white stripe wire to the starter solenoid only becomes hot when the key is turned all the way to the ignition position. The starter solenoid is de-energized when you let go of the key and the ignition switch is in ON or RUN. Does your ignition switch work properly?

Second clue. The coolant temperature switch is normally open. Do you have A/C? If so, is the button pushed in? If not, then check for a ground in the yellow/red fan wire, ahead of the fan relay.

You really need an EVTM. What year is your car?

[bravekozak]

There is no headlamp relay in 88/89 Festivas. The red wire from the HEAD fuse link goes right to the headlamp switch. Test for juice. It should be hot at all times. That is why you need a reminder to shut the lights off in the daylight, if you shut the engine off first.

[ajbremer]

Thanks...the problem is with this 1991 Festiva