[midpack]

the light at the end of the tunnel gets bigger and bigger. I turned the key yesterday and all I ot was a "click". hmmmmm, i jumped the terminals on the solenoid(?) and it cranked like crazy.
any ideas?
the only thing i can think of is, I changed the seal on the auto shift linkage and there is a switch there i think that has to do with the position of the shifter. i`m not sure if i got it back in the right spot, could that be the problem?
also the steering column is not installed yet, but I don`t think that would make much of a difference.

 

[RTM]

Maybe a bad solenoid or a bad connection.

 

[Guest]

The switch is the neutral safety switch. It prevents you from starting the car while it is in gear. If your car thinks it's in gear but really isn't it won't start but IIRC nothing will happen when you turn the key so it probably isn't that.

Since your car sounds like it's in pieces I thought I should mention that the tach needs to be hooked up for the car to start. If the instrument cluster is out and you have a tach then that may be your problem.

 

[midpack]

no, no tach. the instrument cluster is in, and everything is hooked up, except the speedo cable.

 

[Axnjxn]

After you got the "click", but before you crossed the solenoid terminals, did you mess with the battery cables? You may have bumped them just enough for them to work properly.

The click tells me everything was working, but you had insufficient voltage. But since it cranked when you crossed the solenoid, the battery itself actually had enough voltage, but you were getting a voltage drop across a bad connection. Dirty connections perhaps? Painted surfaces (the solenoid needs to mount to bare metal)? Loose terminal?

 

[midpack]

you know, i did take the solenoid off to paint the inner fender. i will take it off and clean a contact under it. I will check the battery cables too.
thanks!