Joined
·
93 Posts
I bought the car Monday for real cheap. 2000 3.8L manual. I'm in the middle of home renovations, so I haven't spent much time on it.
The PO said it had a dead battery and bad fuel sender. He said it had been sitting for 6 months and hadn't started in 3 months. Judging by how rusted and locked up the brakes were/are, I'd say it's been longer.
At his house, it behaved similarly to my previous Miata with a bad ground, which was fixed with new terminal clamps. Some lights and clicks when the key is put in, and not much changes when the key is turned to ACC or ON. When it was turned to START, everything died. (This was tested just with my good battery. His is bad.)
I had a good battery and I put a cable end repair kit on the negative side.
I got more normal behavior from the chimes and lights. The odometer finally displayed actual numbers. I think I heard the fuel pump running when I turned the key to ON. I didn't try the windows or top. When I turned the key to START, I heard a pop (probably relay), everything died, and the lights/chimes went back to the previous condition until I disconnected the battery. No crank, no start. Again, similar to what a previous car did that had a ground problem, so I'm leaning that direction for now.
I quit at that since I had other things to do. I should probably try jumping the starter to see if that's the, or a, problem. I don't have an owner's manual or wiring diagram yet, so I don't know what fuses/relays do what or where the major ground points are. I also need to buy new electrical tools this weekend.
The PO said it had a dead battery and bad fuel sender. He said it had been sitting for 6 months and hadn't started in 3 months. Judging by how rusted and locked up the brakes were/are, I'd say it's been longer.
At his house, it behaved similarly to my previous Miata with a bad ground, which was fixed with new terminal clamps. Some lights and clicks when the key is put in, and not much changes when the key is turned to ACC or ON. When it was turned to START, everything died. (This was tested just with my good battery. His is bad.)
I had a good battery and I put a cable end repair kit on the negative side.
I got more normal behavior from the chimes and lights. The odometer finally displayed actual numbers. I think I heard the fuel pump running when I turned the key to ON. I didn't try the windows or top. When I turned the key to START, I heard a pop (probably relay), everything died, and the lights/chimes went back to the previous condition until I disconnected the battery. No crank, no start. Again, similar to what a previous car did that had a ground problem, so I'm leaning that direction for now.
I quit at that since I had other things to do. I should probably try jumping the starter to see if that's the, or a, problem. I don't have an owner's manual or wiring diagram yet, so I don't know what fuses/relays do what or where the major ground points are. I also need to buy new electrical tools this weekend.