legacycentral bbs

Ok, so I recently bought a '91 legacy turbo. It's a 2.2 liter automatic. When I first got it, it acted like it had a bad spot in the starter, but would crank fine if you held the ignition for a few seconds. Now, it doesn't even want to crank at all. I go to turn the ignition and get absolutely nothing. Not even a ticking sound. Just sits there and drains the battery. I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to mechanic work, but this just stumps me. Anybody had anything similar or got any ideas?

Welcome to the bbs. I moved your thread to the appropriate forum.

Are you sure it's not clicking? Starter solenoid contacts are pretty common on the autos, and can exhibit the problems you described.

There is a chance it is the ignition itself... However I do not know how to check this.

Have you done the "wiggle the effing key around" trick yet?

Start with the simple things. Hit the starter lol. Look at the ground make sure it looks fine no rust etc. Then jump to starter contacts. Then move onto replacing the ignition switch.

Absolutely sure it's not clicking. I'd have a better idea of where to look if it was. I was thinking about putting the key into "run" and jumping the starter to see if the engine would crank and maybe going from there. I know the starter is good because I pulled it off and had it bench tested. As for the ignition switch, you mean the actual part inside the steering column that the lock-and-turn hooks up to, right?

Are you positive that your battery is fully charged? Try swapping it with another battery that you know works.

Are you getting power to the starter w/ the key in the 'start' postition?

It sounds like an failing ignition cylinder switch. Search around on the boards.

Ok... so I bypassed the ignition and hot-wired the starter to a push button and now it starts right up. I did notice that the accessory wire was burned off of wherever it came from in the car though. Maybe that was the problem? Where does that wire actually come in the wiring harness? It's kind of a mess and a little hard to trace right now.

I would put my money on the switch.

I found replacing my switch helped with my starting problems. Turns out the old was sort of melted in places (I've got a thread with more pics of my replacement):


Anyways, if you trace the few thick wires from the ignition switch, down the center of the steering column, you'll find the fat plug harness it connects to. Runs along the same channel initially as the yellow airbag conduit.