Today I cleaned my throttle body, maf and pop charger. After I finished up the car would not start. The battery, starter and wiring is good. It will not turnover. Is there anything I could have messed up in the process of doing that maintenance? Did the job plenty of times never had this problem before.
Any idea of what my problem might be?

thanks in advance

 

If you didn't touch the wiring in your endeavors how can you be sure that its "good" ................

If it wont turn over there is something really simple (batt,wiring, connections) that got screwed in your fiddling or you are not telling everything you worked on

 

Go back over your engine bay,look for any unplugged wire harnesses,like the one going to the starter..

If the wiring checks out,then start looking at your fusible links/fuses.

 

Checked fusible links on fenderwell looks good. What about my coil? could that be the problem? ignition switch, neutral switch?

 

Check the wiring going to the starter..make sure the starter solenoid wire harness has not come unplugged..

 

 

Its plugged in that was the second thing I checked.

 

Time to pull out the multimeter..

 

What do I check First? I pulled the coil and the resistance at the three terminal are off. Primary shud be 1.0 ohms but is 1.1 ohms. Secondary shud be 10 k ohms but is 9.64 k ohms. The Haynes manual says to replace the coil if the readings are inncorrect. Am I headed in the right track? Does this make that big of a difference? What else should I check? I am not too familiar with using a multimeter this is my first time.

 

Multimeters are generally rated around 2% accuracy for the better more expensive ones and a lot less than that for the cheaper stuff - my guess is those readings are perfectly fine .

I would leave the small stuff - figure why it "wont turn over" - only once its turning over can the coil etc play any role -you have to make that starter turn first else you are wasting your time IMO.

 

Possibly a bad neautral safety switch? Try holding the key in the start position, then move the shifter around. See if it cranks.

 

Where is the location of this neutral safety switch? Also where is the ignition switch? Are these hard to replace? Had the starter and battery tested this morning at Discount auto, both are good.

 

Held the key in the start position and tried to crank it, all I got was some smoke that looked to be coming from the starter, but it was hard to tell. It have have been coming from anywhere. I did notice a clicking noise now that I did not have before.

 

u may wanna disconnect the battery till you find the problem.

 

Maybe I missed it. Did you check the voltage of the battery? Even if there is not enough juice to turn the car over, you could still fry a wire or the starter with a prolonged signal to the starter cyloniod.

 

Fryed my ground wire while holding in the start positon while moving the shift lever. That was the smoke coming from the engine bay. Off to the auto parts store to match up another ground wire. I noticed that the negative wire from the battery is grounded on the engine and the chasis. Should that be a concern if I purchase a another one that is not the original equipment? This is turning out to be a pain, and I really need my car today.

 

Yes, it is a concern. You want to make sure you maintain at least the stock ground points. Not only does your body need grounding for all your electrical devices (lights, stereo, etc), but your engine needs to be grounded too.

I don't think AutoZone carries a ground that has than second clamp for a chassis ground. However, you can simply buy two wires: One from battery post to the chassis point. Then, a wire that has the same metal ends to bolt from chassis to the engine.

 

Ok,

I went ahead and took off the positive cable that runs to the starter. I stripped it down and it looks good no need to replace. I will replace the negative cable according to how you mentioned, sounds like the best way to do it. Has anyone out there ever replaced a neutral safety switch. Everything else is checking out ok, I am puzzled as to what my problem maybe. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

 

is the factory alarm or any alarm connected?

 

Yes,

The factory alarm is still connected. Could that be the problem?

 

I'd disconnect it myself and try again.
I netted a 96 I30 for $400 because of an alarm system

 

Can u give me a quick low down on how to disconnect the alarm system? This has never happen to me before........

 

find connector and unplug

 

Is connector under the dash, behind a kick panel, etc?

 

under dash

 

thanks

 

No luck after I disconnected the alarm. Question, will a bad alternator keep the car from starting? I have received no indicators that it may be bad, like a panel light coming up on the dash etc. However, I can remember the car feeling as if it was trying to stall. I felt a lope in it occassionally, but only at speeds of about 55mph or higher. There was a couple of days that the car cut-off on its own but it never really dawned on me that something could be going bad or something is wrong......Do auto shops test alternators? What is the best going price for one?

 

lots of places test alternators including most Retail parts places.

 

do a quick Google for auto parts stores.
autozone, napa, oreily, advanced auto parts, etc.

I personally use autozone for almost everything, because their duralast stuff has lifetime warranties, but I've seen duralast get flamed so many times in this forum, I'm starting to wonder what its about...
but I'm having a hard time beating their price and convenience combination.
they test alternators, too.

 

their issue is that in order to make it cheap and lifetime warranty it has to be made very cheap, basically they fix whatever failed on the original unit, paint it rebox it and call it a lifetime warranty. they figure most people will get rid of the car before it fails. though that leaves a small window of time based on their track record.
I've seen a lot better units for only a few bucks more, and in some cases even less.

 

sometimes they don't even fix them. They slap it on a quick test. It may have intermentint(sp) charging issues that don't show up. They clean and paint it; and you get to labor putting in a used, broken (or about to break) product.

Bosch reman alternators are completely rebuilt . Any wear item including bearings are replaced. Usually have good luck with Bosch. Although I put one in my 4Runner and it failed and they didn't have any more in stock so I got a refund and put in a Visteon and it has been good to me.

 

How long did you hold it in the start position? If it wasn't too long, this sounds like a short in the solenoid or the starter. If current isn't flowing it won't generate heat. Therefore just closing the solenoid, without turning the starter shouldn't melt the wire, if it wasn't in this position for more than say a minute.

 

So, will a bad alternator keep my Max from turning over?

 

Don't think it would. Have started tracing where you have power and where you loose it? ALL fuses and relays?

 

How do you figure that?

Bad alty=discharged battery=click click click....

 

I am assuming his battery is charged. I would hope that would be the first thing to check. I meant if he has a charged battery but a fied alt the car will still turn over and run for a while.

 

meh..I still think it's a wiring fopoa...

but it might also be a bad starter,or the engine has seized up..

 

seized up? Man, that's the last thing I want to here, and I wonder what woud cause that?

 

not sure,but if i was you,I would put a socket/ratchet on your bottom pulley bolt and try to turn it before you go any further..just to eliminate this from the picture..

 

And don't do what I did. Try this and not be able to turn the engine, think I've siezed the engine or bent the valves or something, then remember I had it in gear.