QuestionQUESTION: I have a 199 Chrysler Sebring JX Convertible, 2.5 V-6. Sometimes it starts fine and other times I turn the key all the dash lights illuminate and then the car fails to turn over. I changed the battery in June. It has 49000 miles on it.
ANSWER: Hi Robert,
See if the starter relay in the rear section of power box under the hood is clicking or not when the helper tries the starter. That is the front inboard relay of the 4 relays back there. If not, then you have an issue with the park/neutral safety switch (try moving the shifter slightly off center) or with the ignition switch itself have a bad contact for the starter relay (spray the inside of the switch with electrical contact cleaner). If it does click, then see if the brown wire at the solenoid switch is getting 12v when the relay clicks. That is located on the starter motor proper. If not, then relay's internal contacts are oxidized or the wire is flaky. If so, then the solenoid switch (which should click loudly) is faulty and you need to rebuild the starter to fix that.
Roland
PS please 'rate' my answer. Thanks
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QUESTION: Hi Roland,
When the key is turned I am not getting a click. To save time can you tell me where the location of the neutral safety switch is.
Thank you.
ANSWER: That switch is inside the transmission, part of what is called the transmission range sensor which has a 10-wire plug on the outside of the trans. The switch grounds the black/light blue on pin 5 and the black/white wire on pin 10 when you put the shifter in P or N. So you could check that out. If it does, then the pcm (connected to pin 10) is told that, and its response is to ground the rear pin of the socket for the starter relay. By the way, the relay for the starter is the OUTBOARD Front relay in the rear of the box (not the inboard, so check to see if that one is clicking, sorry for the error). The ignition switch puts 12v on the front pin of the relay socket. That causes the relay to click closed and transfer 12v that comes from fuse 8 on the inboard pin to the outboard pin which is attached to the starter motor solenoid switch. So there is the concept of how the starter relay is activated and thus sends 12v to the starter switch proper.
Roland
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QUESTION: The brown wire is only registering about 10V when the key is turn to the full start position.
AnswerHi Robert,
It could be that the voltage on the brown wire is dropping to 10V because of the solenoid switch at the starter closing, which causes current to flow through the starter motor windings (even though the motor doesn't respond) and that drops the voltage output from the battery. Does the solenoid switch click at the starter motor or does it not? If not, then your battery may just be too weak to close the solenoid switch. Does the battery only show 10V when you try the start position of the key?
If the battery has 12.6V on it, but only 10V comes out of the relay to the brown wire, then it is possible that the relay has corroded internal points that are causing the voltage drop. Try switching the starter motor relay with one of the others in the box that has the same part number. I would believe though that 10V on the brown wire should cause the solenoid to close so then I would believe that there is a problem with that solenoid switch.
Roland
