Constant clicking from starter motor

[J-Meiser]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm after a bit of assistance with an issue that has recently cropped up and I hope that someone can help me out

 

To cut a log story short, 3 weeks ago, my car was starting first time, every time no issues. 2 weekends ago, I pulled out the engine and transmission, swapped the transmission and put them back in again. I've connected up all of my wiring (except for 1 ground connector at the back of the engine - I cannot find that one at the moment) and whenever I try to start my car, I get a constant ticking from the engine bay and it continues even when I switch off the ignition and remove the key. The only way that I can get it to stop is to remove the negative lead from the battery terminal. I managed to narrow the ticking noise down to the starter motor and ever since then, I've been trying to figure out why this is happening.

 

During the reconnection process, I tidied up any wiring that I had going to the chassis ground point that the battery uses and any connections that used the positive terminal by adding connectors like this:

 

 

I am yet to try starting without those connectors attached - it's on my to-do list for this evening.

 

So far I have tried:

• Bypassing the Park/Neutral switch
  
• Redoing parts of the wiring for the Park/Neutral switch (in case they were shorting),
  
• Cleaning the connector and terminal of the Park/Neutral switch (in case there was liquid in there causing a short)
  
• Tidying up the wiring under the dash to make sure that there were no shorts (there were some wires that I added for a new TCU that I have now removed and thus, removed the excess wiring)
  
• Tried removing the starter relay to determine that the issue is definitely on that circuit.
  

 

My battery was recharged about 4 weeks ago, the indicator on the battery is still green and as I said, just prior to removing the engine and transmission, it started perfectly fine. I am keeping the battery disconnected when the car is not is use at the moment, as I don't want it to discharge.

 

Does anyone have any pointers as to what it could be that is causing this issue? I've never experienced this issue before and this is the third time in 12 months that I've pulled the engine and transmission, never had anything like this happen.

 

Thanks for your time!

[Shane]

J- re-connect it and pull the main fuse. This will tell you if its something on the control side of the starter solenoid or on the hi current side.

 

Dont forget you also have the high flow cold starting injector coneected to the control side of the starter solenoid.

[J-Meiser]

Hi Shane,

 

Thanks for the info! Just to check, do you mean the 50A main fuse or the 7.5A ST fuse?

[Scooter]

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?310463-Start-up-and-running-problems-out-of-ideas&highlight=earth

 

 

Chris Wilson post 15 - has to be worth using a jumper cable to 100% ensure a good earth? given your rear earth omission admission and that it seems the other times you've had the engine out and all has been ok?

[Shane]

Hi Shane,

 

Thanks for the info! Just to check, do you mean the 50A main fuse or the 7.5A ST fuse?

 

The 50A fuse J. This way you only have the unfused heavy cable going to the starter and none of the solenoid control circuit. In fact...with the main fuse out the only thing that should be connected to the battery will be the main feed to the solenoid. If it still ticks then it has to be an internal problem the starter solenoid. I have a strong suspicion it wont be clicking.

 

Your wiring will be very much different to Paul's as I noticed you retianed pretty much all the Supra wiring and used spliced loom connectors.

 

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?310463-Start-up-and-running-problems-out-of-ideas&highlight=earth

 

 

Chris Wilson post 15 - has to be worth using a jumper cable to 100% ensure a good earth? given your rear earth omission admission and that it seems the other times you've had the engine out and all has been ok?

 

Yes, a jump lead between the -ve terminal and the block would be a good idea.

[J-Meiser]

Hi everyone,

 

Sorry for the delayed response and thank you all for your input.

 

Basically, it's now sorted and starting perfectly fine. The rear ground wire that I could not find - I found it, connected it to the ground point that I always use for it, tried starting the enging and it fired up first time without an issue. Upon further inspection, that rear ground was for the Starter Motor. Here's a pic of the wire in question:

 

 

Thank you all again! I really do appreciate the assistance.