Purchased an X 300 1996 being told it needed a starter. Got it home and found that starter worked after putting power directly to it. Browsed the forum and found recommended fuses around the vehicle to check, of which they are all good. Gearshift won't leave park, however P is illuminated. If I use bypass and move shift lever, it does in fact illuminate whichever gear I select. The brake lights do work when brake is pressed, so I believe that brake switch to be operating properly. Won't crank in neutral or park, so I decided to jump the starter relay to see if bypassing all the safeties would prove the starter is working.
Key out of Ignition, I put a jumper wire on the starter relay and melted my fingertips. Dumb mistake, but I didn't think it would be hot until key is in and cranked to final position. I put a larger gauge jumper and relay and while standing outside of vehicle with no key in Ignition, it's started cranking. I had a weird feeling maybe the previous owner hot wired the car. Perhaps I'm totally wrong but following the idea that maybe it shouldn't always be hot, I went under the dash and found a R/W wire coming off the Ignition module towards a white connector. In the middle of the R/W wire is a butt splice that looks totally not factory. I have looked at diagrams online but can't find if this is perhaps from a breathalyzer system or what have you.
The power antenna is ripped off. Deep in a youtube comment section somebody had taken their same model year no crank no start and the dealership told them the vehicle detected a broken power antenna and prevented the vehicle from cranking. Perhaps this is phoney, or it's a separate issue that's not helping the situation. If someone can help me lay this myth to rest that would be great.
If it's any hint, while in park the vehicle does in fact roll. Rolled it up a trailer and back down into garage. Doesn't seem normal but I think I may have a few issues at present. I have been googling for hours trying to find live pictures of wiring underneath the dash. I have had no success so far. I went through forum guides for the last 3 days but have not yet figured it out. I decided to break down and create a post. I really appreciate any time and help anyone can give me.
The power antenna is ripped off. Deep in a youtube comment section somebody had taken their same model year no crank no start and the dealership told them the vehicle detected a broken power antenna and prevented the vehicle from cranking. Perhaps this is phoney, or it's a separate issue that's not helping the situation. If someone can help me lay this myth to rest that would be great.
There is no limit to the misinformation you can find on the internet! No, this vehicle doesn't know or care if your power antenna is broken. No, that will not prevent the vehicle from cranking. And no, (I'm pretty sure) a dealership would not tell someone that!
You found out that jumping the starter relay with the key off will crank the engine. That is normal. It is a great way to test the starter motor.
Your transmission will not lock into park: that is an internal mechanical problem or a badly connected shift cable. Has someone worked on the transmission? On the left side of the trans is the Rotary switch. It has a wire bundle attached, which feeds the transmission control module. It tells the module what gear selection the car is in. If it was damaged due to a hacker it could prevent the car from cranking.
the linear switch appears to be saying the lever is in park position, which is why the P lights up in red.
that is good.
however, given the fact the car can be rolled and moved whilst in park indicates that the transmission is not actually engaging into park.
hense why it will not start.
this could be a mechanical and or/an electrical problem.
when you move the gear lever does it actually feel like the lever is moving something and the gears are engaging?
you should be able to feel if this is happening.
i would say you have 1 of 4 most likely scenarios.
- faulty mechanical linkage that is not selecting a gear
- broken internals in the gear box
- damaged or unplugged wiring around the transmission unit or control module
- faulty transmission control module
Parker, you are correct according to what I'm looking at. Yes, 5 wires. It's left hand steering model. Sorry for taking a while to respond, I was up all night last night again. I located a fresh relay and put it into the starter relay harness and there was a pop from the starter solenoid and the entire car is acting dead. No power to anything. No idea what happened.
I had a friend over who is intelligent with electronics and he went through the schematics with me. He pulled the ignition harness off the back of the ignition module and was manually manipulating it. There was a difference. The car now beeps or "chimes" if you will a set number of times depending on what position he manipulated the ignition switch to. I tried googling it and couldn't resolve if this was some kind of anti-theft system or what have you. I cannot do this again now unfortunately because the vehicle is acting dead.
What he helped me do was test the starter relay circuit. My initial post sounded stupid most likely because I was ignorant on how relays work at that point. So now that I know what's going on, the hot side is always hot. The ground side has continuity and is working, and I have continuity between the exit side of the relay and the starter solenoid. Where I have an issue is the trigger wire coming into the relay. So now I know at least I have to work backwards. I need to figure out how to test the different parts of the BCM. So I have the schematics of the BMC, is it as easy as just turning the key to run and seeing which wires into the BCM are hot and which aren't, assuming the ones not sending a signal are where my problem is?
I know it sounded absolutely preposterous but I can totally link you to that youtube video. I just thought I would humour the concept since the experience would have been so similar. I felt dumb typing it but my desire to know the answer was greater lol.
Yes, so I am a noob at a lot of this but I won't let this car win. So I don't know if someone worked on the transmission at this point. I do know that whoever I bought it from said they were able to roll it around their yard. Initially they used the phrase "it skidded" but then they were telling me it rolled. My assumption is perhaps something got damaged after they rolled it enough. Does that sound to you like it could be a shift cable related issue? I have not looked at the transmission in any shape yet, I'm just trying to get it to fire under normal operation before I get ahead of myself.
Thank you for your responses at this point, I appreciate it greatly.
This may be the next thing I look at. Considering the replies before yours and now reading what you've said, maybe my no-start problem is entirely related to this right here. I purchased the vehicle knowing they couldn't get it going because they believe it needed a starter. They said they've skidded it around their yard and perhaps it was running at some point but when they gave up on changing the starter and had to roll it, they damaged one of the four most likely scenarios you've listed and I inherited a problem they didn't know they created.
I will tell you that when pressing the manual bypass, I feel the lever move pretty darn freely and there's nothing more than a slight nudge when it sits into where I'd expect it to. I don't have the ski slope currently bolted in. To make sure we are on the same page, the shift lock to prevent you going out of park does not actuate. Say I move it through the gate to neutral and attempt to start. The "N" is lit up red, are you saying that the vehicle could in fact be in drive and there's another safety preventing it from starting and shooting me through the back of my garage? Haha, I suppose if that's the case I'm very glad it is. Thinking through what you've said, it makes a lot of sense and I'm going to investigate when I can. I need to locate some jack stands so I can get to the transmission.
Thanks so much for your time as well, I appreciate all of you and I really want to get this thing going!
My suggestion is to ensure the ignition switch is commanding the king relays to close in the corners of the fuse boxes , allowing power on all points of the car
The ignition switch connector is if I recall mounted with the car side halve on a bracket facing you
The ignition switch is key and is probably a point where they would install a breathalyzer inhibit
The pic that follows shows in a big picture how the ignition switch controls power around the car but is for a V- 12 but the ignition switch section is the same , just the transmission is different so youhave a rotory position switch
The ignition switch provides a ground path through to pin 5 to car frame ground in order to close the relays and seperate operation to trigger the starter command ( this is different the a enable / allow )
Same details on the 5 wires of the ignition switch
The pin 5 to car frame ground needs to be close to 0 resistance and could be comprimized
this pin 5 will effect all king relays in the corner of the fuse boxes with the exception of the left engine bay for box ( car horn )
Pin 1 to 5 is the starter command and your meter will waver as this is a spring loaded momentary contact , so not the most confidence building
Some details on the fuse boxes as they are all the same in this aspect
Fuse # 1 - 9 are hot at all times directly wired to the battery bypassing inside the fuse box the king relay in the corner
Fuse # 10 , 12 ,14 , 16 relie on the king relays to close
The remaining fuses # 11 , 13 , 15 are hot at all times like # 1 - 9
To get your starter to rotate the items on the left side of the BPM must get an agreement in order that the BPM provides a ground path through the rotary position switch ( located on the transmission ) to close the starter solenoid relay
This rotory position switch is the most common version ( in the first picture in post # 2 of the normally aspirated inline 6 transmission )
The V- 12 and supercharged inline 6 and 3.2 inline 6 do not have a rotary position switch being a different transmission
I think all you have is a bad transmission cable and/or a mis-positioned rotary switch on the trans. Thats what I suggest checking next. Notice on the diagram Parker put up that the rotary switch has to have P or N closed in order to feed the starter relay. And the rotary switch has to receive the input from the BPM (red/orange wire). You can test to see if there is 12V on that wire when you turn the key to crank.
I would leave everything else alone until checking the shifter cable and rotary switch. That is a more likely scenario than a bad BPM or ECU. Once you are under the car you will see how it connects, the rotary switch fits over a square peg coming off the shift lever on the trans, which moves the switch position as the lever rotates according to cable movement.
yes.
my first point of call would be the shifter cable.
on the side of the gear selector is a little black box that reads the position of the lever and illuminates P R N D as per the position of the lever.
this is independent however of the position the actual gearbox is in.
if the car is able to move that is highly indicative that it is not in park.
there is a cable from the lever to the box that selects the gear.
put the lever into P
can the car move? forward and back or just forward or back? if it can only move one way that would lead me to believe it is in D or R.
if it can move both forward and back that would indicate that it is either in neutral or something (possibly the torque converter) is broken.
put it into R, then N then D and repeat the process.
same result in every position shows the cable is broken or the gearbox is broken.
different result shows that the cable is actually selecting a gear and then electrical is a problem.
if it is in neutral, and still cannot start, then check wiring and modules.
i just recently adjusted my shifter cable there is double lock nut near the shifter, and then again at the transmission.
in short i hope your problem is as follows.
cable is busted/not attached and the car is able to roll due to being stuck in neutral,
and the wiring at the transmission has become damaged/unplugged and the car does not know what gear it is in.
just to add
if they were dragging the car whilst the transmission was in park it is very very very possible that they have infact brocken the transmission.
inside the transmission there is a locking pin or similar that engages and stops the transmission and drivewheels from moving.
if the car is dragged this will place force on that part of the transmission and done enough times it will weaken to the point it breaks and then the transmission and wheels are able to free spin.
this would not explain why the car would not start in park or neutral but could also lead to damage of other components but would explain why it can roll freely when in park and why they say it "skidded" but then say it "rolled"
I did not have time to get back to the car tonight, I will take all this information under advisement for tomorrow when I can get a few hours in for more testing. I have located some jack stands so I will be able to get underneath the car and check out the transmission. Thanks again for all your input so far you 3, I will come back tomorrow with updates for us.
