Electrical wiring problem causing starter to malfunction...

[LeviMM]

Greetings,
I'm tracking down a red wire which is keeping the starter from turning over. I found the wire loose near the starter solenoid, and I would like to know where it should go. I took some pictures below to show the loose red wire highlighted in purple. Pardon my picture uploading skills and the junky engine bay.Thank-you in advance for the help!

[sly]

what year is the car again? It may go to the bottom small stud on the starter solenoid... or to the battery. It may also be an accessory wire a previous owner installed for something.

[LeviMM]

1987

[86VickyLX]

The best thing for you to do, is to find out where that wire goes, as it may not be factory at all.

[LeviMM]

If my tracing is correct, then the red wire goes here.

[gadget73]

That is a vacuum hose on the fuel pressure regulator, so I'm going to go with "not where it goes"


That wire really doesn't look factory to me. I don't recall any solid red wires existing over there, and definitely not any without a fuse link. Possible something failed and was bypassed with a new piece of wire though. best guess is it goes to the starter relay with all the cables on it, but thats really a guess. it may have also been taped to the skinned spot I see on the one fuse link in your picture. Don't put it back there. If it needs to go to +, add a fuse holder and an eye terminal and hook it back up.

[85crownHPP]

Yeah, that's something somebody added on. It looks like everything needed to crank is still hooked up to the solenoid. What makes you think that red wire is preventing your car from starting?

[LeviMM]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I retraced the red wire and it's not the vacuum hose for the fuel pressure regulator. The red wire goes inside the cabin under and behind the throttle body. I'll see if I can grab a snapshot of it.

[sly]

yeah... I'm betting it's a bypass wire cause something stopped working or the power wire for some accessory (like a CB) and the PO took it out and took out the fuse holder but left the wire.

[LeviMM]

[sly]

definitely not a stock wire.

[gadget73]

Find the other end. That will tell you whether it matters or not. I just hope someone didn't bypass the neutral safety switch and all that stuff because they couldn't be bothered to diagnose it.