First off this is concerning my ranger, and directed towards those familiar with the fox body or pre-94 ford vehicles. This is on a 1992 ranger that had the 3.0 v6 with the mazda 5 speed.

I've converted the system to a carbureted setup, disconnecting the electrical sensors and taping off the unused leads. I've spliced into the original ignition power supply and am receiving 12V at the coil when the key is on. For the time being I've cut the clutch line (was going to connect but I need one more adapter) and decided I would test the starter. I do not have fuel connected at this time, and there isn't a belt on the motor. I pushed in the clutch to trip the starter lockout and tried to turn the motor over and got nothing. Checked it with a voltmeter and had zero coming out. Took a wire and shorted the starter lead and got it to work, so the solenoid and starter motor are good.

I'm wondering if the clutch sensor (hydraulic clutch) senses pressure instead of position, or there is a lock-out in the ECU that is preventing the ignition signal from getting to the solenoid since none of the sensors are hooked up anymore. I can test the first one when I get the adapter and bleed the clutch system (hopefully tomorrow). The second scenario I might be stuck running a new starter signal wire.

Thoughts?

 

A starter circuit is pretty simple, a large gauge wire from the battery to the solenoid mounted on the fenderwell and another from there to the starter, the ignition wire from the ignition switch through the clutch switch to the (IIRC) I terminal on the solenoid. Easy peasy, the starter circuit does not generally concern itself with whether the engine can start or not, it just spins it. Check the clutch switch and the ignition switch, make sure power is getting through each of them.

 

Still gotta go get a fitting. I could bypass the clutch switch if push comes to shove but jessie is going to be driving the car and in the interest of not having one of our other cars rearended i would like to keep this functionality. Power is getting to the coil so at least part of the ignition switch is working. idk. Fyi im not trying to start it right now, just check the circuits. Still have this little thing of a fuel line to run as well. It might be louder than jj's car though.

 

Completely different part of the switch. If I was going to make a guess though, I'd say it's your clutch switch. Usually they are just like a brake light switch mounted to catch the clutch pedal arm. Unless you are driving a German car the starter doesn't care if you have clutch pressure at all, it just cares that the clutch pedal is depressed.

 

There are four wires going into the switch, but having more problems right now. The fuel pump isn't working so more bypasses! Thought I got it yesterday by grounding out the wire for the fuel pump relay going into the EEC but either it wasn't a good ground or there's a break somewhere else in the line. Gotta get the fuel out and hopefully all the crud that should go with it. So far zip ties, electrical tape, welder, and wire strippers have been the most helpful tools in this project.

 

Got the pump working. Weirdest thing was the inertia switch was tripped. The truck was driven to where it sat, then towed out, so not sure how that got tripped exactly.