Car not starting, narrowed down to electrical

[auxiliarytwin]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone on here can help me out.  I drove my car to its current location (72 Charger SE) in late April.  As I parked I heard a lot of clicking coming from the passenger side under the dash.  I later determined it was coming from a relay just under the dash in between the ashtray and glove box.  It clicked for a while after I parked and then stopped.  I think I determined it to be the old door buzzer for the key or light buzzer for leaving the lights on, but can't be too sure.  Either way the headlights shut off for some reason and it was weird.  However they still work when I pull the knob so no harm done.  This may not be the issue, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

Anyhow the car won't start.  I get no reaction other than slightly dimming interior lights when I try to start the car.  I tested all the wires under the hood, the starter relay as well as the starter itself and they are all good.  I got the car started by putting a wire from the relay to the battery and having the key in the on (1 click) position.  I tested the yellow ground wire under the dash heading to the steering wheel and that was good as well.  The battery is 100% charged and holds load.

Could it be the ignition switch?  Any help here would be greatly appreciated.  If you need more details please ask as I am at work and at the mercy of my faulty memory.

Thanks!

[elacruze]

It's not clear where you jumped to start the car.

If you can start it by turning the key to run, and jumping the start relay from the hot post to the keyswitch wire (yellow on my '68) at the relay then you have a keyswitch/connection problem.

[auxiliarytwin]

I apologize I did not provide details.

The wire I made the car start with was holding it to the middle conduit that has the small wire coming from the starter to the Relay and the other wire goes to the alternator solenoid.

Hope this helps.

[elacruze]

Not clear.

The starter relay has two round posts and one or two spade terminals. The round terminals carry current to the starter solenoid, the spade terminal(s) activate the solenoid. If you have one spade, it needs power to activate. If you have two spades, one gets power and one is ground through the neutral safety switch. These are easy to test.

I don't have the wiring diagram for your car, so what you need to do is determine your circuit failure through diagnosis. Use a test light instead of a meter, as a meter may show voltage but can't tell you if the current is adequate. If a test light works, you have adequate current.

First, disconnect both wires from the relay. Put your meter or light in line between one wire and ground, preferably at the battery negative terminal. If the wire powers up the test light will illuminate. If that test passes, disconnect the other wire and do the same. If the lamp illuminates, you have a problem on the ground side somewhere-at the neutral safety switch most likely. Test by jumping the ground side to ground with a wire. Be sure the car is in neutral, preferably with the rear tires off the ground on jackstands.

If you have only one spade terminal, test between the relay body and battery negative. If the test lamp illuminates when turning the key, you have a ground circuit fault at the relay body. Easy to fix, take the relay off and clean the contact area and screw threads.

[auxiliarytwin]

Thanks for the info.  I have some more details if it helps.

The Starter Relay has 2 Spade terminals.  The yellow ground (spade) I tested all the way through to the steering column and it worked fine with both test light and meter.  The starter relay I just replaced as well as the Voltage regulator (VR is probably not that important at the moment).  I got the car to crank with the key in the off position, and crank and start with the key in the 1 click, on position (to get juice).  This was by wiring a loose wire to the middle post terminal straight to the battery positive. 

I've pretty much eleiminated all the wires under the hood as they all have strong signals, which is why I'm confused, but I chalk it up to my inexperience with auto electric

Hope this helps.  Car electric kills me.

[Ghoste]

Neutral safety switch?

[elacruze]

Neutral safety switch?

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I'd have to see a schematic to know if the NSS is on the hot or ground side-should be on the G side, I think. I'm leaning toward bad keyswitch or poor connection at the back of the switch or at the firewall.

What's the voltage on the hot-to-relay crank wire, which goes hot in the 'start' key position?