Hello

Background, this is an oldie but a goodie problem that Inga (1986 245DL 281K) started two years ago. You would turn the key and nothing would happen. When this happened, I found that found that jumping the car would fire her right up. About the only thing in that starter circuit that was not changed was the Big Red wire from the contact block to the inside of the car. The problem is that there is a voltage drop inside the car that gets the voltage too low to engage the starter. The battery is fully charged and Inga has a 100 Amp alternator putting out 14.2 volts, that is not the problem. There was an almost a full volt drop from the battery to the inside of the car. The Battery cables were brand new, there is a solid ground to the block and the chassis. The starter was changed out, the back of the ignition, and the neutral safety switch was replaced. Also at the same time I replaced all the contacts and shinned all the fuses. All that fixed the problem and time rolled on.

Back to the present and the Texas heat, the intermittent no start is suddenly back. So is the voltage drop that is the root cause of the problem. After over a year of Inga cranking every time you turned the key, about four weeks ago she hesitated for a couple of second when I turned the key. A day or so later she did not start until I hooked up the remote starter switch and hit the button. Pulled the Neutral Pos Safety switch connector and added a jumper in its place and that seemed to solve the problem at first. It came back and my patience was getting a bit thin. All I had to do was hook up the switch and hit the trigger and Inga would fire right up. I thought about just adding a switch under the hood and recently saw one doing the same thing at a pick ur part.

Instead of a switch, added a relay that uses the starter solenoid voltage to engage the relay. It takes the voltage right off the battery to engage the starter when you turn the key, that hits the starter with the full battery voltage and Inga has fired right up regardless of temperature without fail.

The voltage drop is still there inside the car until things cool down and I can get to the bottom of this one more time. The relay under the hood, (number 8) will most likely stay, even when I get the drop fixed. Enough is enough.

If anyone has any bright ideas where to look for this voltage drop please post.

Regards,

Paul