HELP!! rebuilt ka24de wont turn over, engine free starter clicks and test good

[neongreenglo]

ok guys here's my deal i recently rebuilt my ka24de and was going to try to dry fire it ... " no coolant" not to see it run but to make sure it would crank over and to prime the oil pump, anyways with a full battery it test 12.8 from the battery and from the batt to all my engine and body grounds, as well as across my starter cylinoid, but when i turn the key the lights dim and i just hear a click but cant tell if its coming from the starter or a relay, it acts like if it had a dead battery but its not the case... oh and the engine "is free" i can rotate it fully with a socket and wrench, has full power headlights, dome, tails, but wont turn the starter. i have 3 starters layin in my shop took them all to oriely's and they all test good. so if anyone out there has any idea's please help me out!!!

[vancouverbc]

the starter needs constant 12v+ and temporary 12v+ from key and ground. hook it up directly to battery to test.

[blkmrkt]

i just swapped a dual cam in my car as well and i am having the exact same problem! ive replaced the battery, starter and all fuses and i still cannot get power from the battery to the starter to turn the engine over. i hooked my starter directly to the battery to test and the starter just spun freely and did not grab and turn the engine over. i am not sure why the little prongs in the starter did not come out and turn the engine over they just spun. im really starting to get frustrated with this and need help

[vancouverbc]

you need two 12V+ wires to get starter to work.

see starter in tutorial link in my signature

[blkmrkt]

yes we got the starter to work by using your "advanced method" in your tutorial but i believe the arm that connects the gear to the motor may be messed up or something. we have tryed 2 starters now and that arm does not connect to the engine and turn it over, the gears in the starter just spin. do you think i am doing something wrong? i doubt two starters arms are both messed up.

[Vegascorbin]

What is the voltage messured at the battery WHILE CRANKING? it should stay near +12. If it drops to +10 or even less then you have a bad cell in the battery. It will act ok untill you put a load on it.

If you can Jump it and get normal results that would also confirm a bad cell.

[blkmrkt]

What is the voltage messured at the battery WHILE CRANKING? it should stay near +12. If it drops to +10 or even less then you have a bad cell in the battery. It will act ok untill you put a load on it.

If you can Jump it and get normal results that would also confirm a bad cell.

so are you saying if the battery has less then +12 on it, it will not have enough power to move the arm of the starter over far enough to have the gears of the starter touch the engine?

[vancouverbc]

yes we got the starter to work by using your "advanced method" in your tutorial but i believe the arm that connects the gear to the motor may be messed up or something. we have tryed 2 starters now and that arm does not connect to the engine and turn it over, the gears in the starter just spin. do you think i am doing something wrong? i doubt two starters arms are both messed up.

Are you sure you connected the battery to where the small wire comes in from ignition. If you connect to wrong spot , only the motor will spin. does the starter spin when you turn the key? Obviously it should to be consistent. yeah, jump start to test battery. If starter is spinning when you turn key and it is right starter, it might be something mechanical as i know zero about that. Make sure you have a good ground.
Modified by vancouverbc at 3:11 AM 1/23/2008

[neongreenglo]

ok u asked abt the starter being bad... and like i stated before i bench tested all 3 of my starters and they all test good i'm workin on this alone in my shop and dont have the extra hands to test the voltage when it cranks but i couldnt see why it would drop i know the battery is good b/c i just pulled it from my jeep.... i'm tired of scratching my head... and i've gotta freind who swapped out his ka for a rb25det so hopefully we can figure something out ... i 'll keep ya posted and if u have any idea's let me know

[4cefed]

Make sure you have good grounds from the engine to the battery. I did exactly the same thing on my race car a few years ago. I brought 2 new starters back to the parts store because I thought they were jammed. The wimpy braided ground leading from the engine to the chassy broke down. I ran a new 8 gauge ground wire and no problems. The headlights did the same thing as yours did too.

[Vegascorbin]

so are you saying if the battery has less then +12 on it, it will not have enough power to move the arm of the starter over far enough to have the gears of the starter touch the engine?

I was responding to the original posting in this thread.

[justy90240sx]

just an idea but my 240 the clutch safty switch is loose and you have to push the clutch pedal to the left when u push otherwise it didnt hit the switch. that stumped me for awhile. its worth tryin u got nothin to lose

[neongreenglo]

if i remember correctly on all my 5spd's including my old 90 240sx even in the switch wasnt pressed it still wouldnt click, it wouldnt do anything that switch opens a path for the ignition to jump threw sending the signal to the starter seing as how the starter clicks that means that my switch is good..... good suggestion tho

[justy90240sx]

ya but are you sure your hearing the starter click and not the relay under the hood. cause mine still clicks and sounds like a starter but isnt. man if you havint looked just try in man i thought it was crazy when i found it so good luck

[vancouverbc]

get a $20 mulitmeter . one probe on chasis and one probe on wire. is it delevering 12v when you turn key, etc. why guess

[neongreenglo]

BUMP!!!

[neongreenglo]

ok guys .... so just for ****s and grins before i started looking for voltage drops and all that fun stuff i decided to crawl back under my car and swap the starters even tho they ALL tested good at oreileys. and guess what it cranks now.... weird but ... yeah its fixed... no i just gotta get it to start ive got spark but not fuel i dont think.. idk i'll play around with it