Foxbody89GT

I have an 89 GT and I've been having problems starting it lately. It's been getting worse and worse. 8 out of 10 times it'll start right up. But once in a while the engine refuses to turn over. I can tell it's pulling power when I turn the key because the lights dim. I made sure the battery was fully charged. I replaced the starter and starter solenoid thinking that would fix it. But it still does it. When it doesn't turn over, I can jump the car with a screwdriver by touching the small point to the larger point of the starter solenoid.

I noticed that when I try to start it without pushing the clutch in, it does the same exact thing when it refuses to start. The lights will dim like it's pulling power, but the engine won't turn over. So I'm starting to think there is something wrong with the pressure switch (or whatever it is) that stops the car from starting when the clutch isn't held down. However I couldn't find anything that seemed broken or loose on the clutch pedal. Could somebody explain where the pressure switch is on the clutch?
Or if anybody has an idea as to what else could be causing this, please let me know. Thank you.

mjr46

if you mean by bypassing the selonoid you can get it to start then replace the selonoid

Foxbody89GT

I just replaced the solenoid. I was having these problems before the replacement and now after too. So that didn't seem to fix anything.
A car can be jumped by touching the small post at the top-middle of the starter solenoid to the large post of the solenoid where the battery is connected. (to anybody who is trying this for the first time make sure you use something made of thick metal like a screwdriver - all the power from the battery will flow through it so it can be very dangerous if using a small gauge wire) That's what I meant when I said that in my first post.

mjr46

I'm quite well versed in what you did no need to teach me Daniel son.................when it won't start you need to see where voltage drop is occuring, it would seem you have a bad connection due to the fact the lights dim, it may either be in the small wire that pushes onto the selonoid which is the the wire from the ign switch to trigger selonoid, if wiring/elbow is good to that point, there was a TSB on the ign switch, meaning the electrical portion down on the column, the connections to switch would get hot and overheat due to high resistance and in some cases catch fire, unplug switch and look at pins and connector for any signs of overheating