QuestionI have a 1999 Town & Country and it will not start, it has power but when you turn the key it does not do anything. The battery is new and it ran a few hours before this.
AnswerHi Bob,
The circuit that provides power to the starter motor has two legs. First leg of the circuit consists of the ignition switch, the park-neutral safety switch that prevents the starter unless the trans is in either of those gear settings, the starter relay (located under the hood in the box near the battery with a removable lid which contains fuses and square components called electrical relays = switches), and the wires that connect these components together and then sends a current to the starter motor's switch (which if it were working makes the loud click sound) that actually allows the current of the other leg (on the big red wire from the battery directly to the starter) to run thru the motor. The fact that you don't hear the click means the first leg has the problem.
The ignition switch could have faulty internal contacts, the safety switch may be slightly out of adjustment so it won't close even though you are in park or neutral, the relay in the box can be defective, or the starter motor switch could be defective.
About all you can do without a volt-ohm meter to measure whether the voltage goes thru that string of components is to try the switches and listen carefully. I would begin by trying to tilt the key up or down or side to side while trying the starter position in case the ignition switch is loose in its connections. Then I would try moving the gear shift lever to either extreme from its resting position while it is set in park or neutral to see if that might be the answer. You could even try starting in reverse or drive gear as long as you have your parking and foot brakes applied when you do this. If that doesn't produce response then you need to open the box under the hood and with the help of another person listen to see whether the starter relay in the box (possibly identified on the box lid or the board where the relays are placed) makes a soft click sound when the helper tries the starter using the ignition key. If it clicks that means the ignition switch, the safety switch and the wires connecting them are o.k. If not, then one or the other of the components is bad. If o.k. then you need a meter to test if the relay is actually sending voltage on a brown wire to the starter motor's switch. (I am assuming that you don't hear a loud click coming from the starter motor when you try it with the help of a jumper). If you did hear that loud click, then either the red wire is not connected well or the starter motor is bad. But all of the above assumes there is no loud click from the starter motor proper)
So you may end up needing a meter or simple neon test light to verify the electrical function of the relay in the box (and the connection of the brown wire from the relay to the starter motor switch) by touching one end to the brown wire's contact at the starter motor switch and the other end to the engine block to see if it lights when a helper tries the key.
Those are the components and things you can try.
If you can get the loud click at the starter motor, but still no action by the motor, then you have to test the other leg: there is a large red wire from the battery to the starter motor that needs to be attached at both ends with clamps that are not corroded and are tight. But because you are dealing with a live wire it should not be touched with a metal wrench without first detaching the clamp on the -post of the battery so you don't accidentally cause a short circuit through the wrench touching both the wire and a metal part of the body or engine. After detaching the -post clamp you can access whether that large red wire is tightly attached at both ends. Then reconnect the -post of the battery.
One last thing to check is that the ground strap, a large black wire from the rear of the engine motor cylinder head to the body or to the -post of the battery is tight at both ends of its connection. That is the return path for current from the starter motor to the battery that has to be present if the motor is to run.
Let me know if you have other questions after trying these things.
Roland
