The solenoid can turn the engine over and still not send an electrical signal to the module. Did you test if there was power to the (I) terminal on the solenoid while you were turning the engine over?
A test light is inexpensive and a great investment. I even made one before by using a bulb and some wire..
Hello, I still think if you run a hot wire from battery to positive side of the coil, key on, solenoid screwdriver trick, it should start. Tony
I remember having starting problems when I forgot to ground the engine after my swap.... Possibility? (insert 'shot in the dark' smiley)
@App....I didn't replace the engine, but I'll check the ground just in case. Does it ground to the firewall? I have never looked for it.
What happens if you hold the coil wire while using a screw driver to crank the engine at the solenoid?
bad ground bad box bad ign switch bad coil my money is on the switch having grounding/short circuit issues. I usually never run around throwing parts at a problem any more these days, especially electrical related stuff since most cannot be returned once there is evidence they have been hooked up.. just for the sake of "trying this or that". And especially considering that bypassing the possible parts in question is so darned easy to do during the troubleshooting phase. and as for the solenoid causing that issue?.. in my view.. the only way that could possibly happen is if it's failing to send power onwards from the solenoid through the rest of the harness for the remainder of the parts involved. Would seemingly take a short circuit to cause the key on/key off spark.. which would likely be more obvious as other electrical gremlins started showing up.. but if the solenoid works to run the starter?.. then power should be coming off it to run the other components.
There was a time in my life I thought the same thing. I had a bad solenoid that would kill the engine sometimes. When I pulled off the road it would or sometimes crank back up until I let go of the key then it would die. Sometimes it would run all day and sometimes it would die as soon as pulled out of the driveway. It would die or not run when I had bypassed the ignition switch. After bypassing the MSD box and replacing the Unilite with the old dual point distributor I still had a problem. After replacing the solenoid everything acted right so I spent the next hour or two hooking up the MSD and going back to the Unilite
Not sure where it's 'supposed' to be. Thinks I just scrapped some metal behind a bolt in the engine bay and did it to there from a bolt hole in my head. I don't remember there being a ground on my 250. But I could've yanked it without realizing it. Again, I'm just shooting in the dark. Others probably know better
The stock battery negative battery cable goes from the battery to a connection on the firewall to the engine block, usually bolted into the same boss as the starter ground. If your engine block isn't grounded you should get no spark and I am pretty sure the starter shouldn't turn unless you grounded it separately. Those grounds could be bad, run a 10awg cable from your engine block to the firewall as a test. If it makes it work leave it hooked up.
Ok. Thanks for clarifying that! And doesn't the solenoid ground itself to the engine bay? I remember using star washers or scrapping behind the solenoid after painting my bay for some reason.
