I have been having intermittent starting problems with my car. Its a 69 cutlass. Sometime, the car wont even try to turn over, no clicking or anything. Changed both starter cables to no avail. One time when it wasn't starting, I smacked the thing that sits on the driver side fender, and it would turn over. Im guessing that is probably a starter relay, and that could be causing my problem.

 

Whoa.

Stop hitting the horn relay. It never did anything to hurt you.

GM cars have the starter relay on top of the starter.
We call it the starter solenoid.

If you've changed the battery cables, and cleaned the battery terminals (and coated them with a healthy layer of Vaseline in the process), then you've ruled them out as the problem.

That pretty much leaves the battery (would have to be really beat), the ignition switch and associated wiring, and the starter solenoid.

The solenoid is a good possibility.
It's the same for all GM from at least the early '60's through the '80's, and is about $15 at the auto parts store. If you don't get a click, then the solenoid is not pulling in and making contact to connect the starter.

However, it is also possible that you've got some resistance in the circuit from the battery, to the ignition switch, to the solenoid. If that's the case, you may have enough continuity to have a big current draw when you try to start, but not enough to pull in the solenoid, make the "click," and engage the starter. Test this by connecting a big (10 or 12 gauge) wire to the starter solenoid ("S" terminal) and then touching it to the battery (+). If it cranks right over, the ignition switch circuit is a good bet, and the cure is either a new wiring harness or a $4 relay to switch the juice to the solenoid. I know this because I just had this problem on my Chevelle, and it was a b|tch to track down.

Good luck!

- Eric

 

He mentioned in another post that it's an ex-drag car, so all bets are off on it having factory wiring. I expect we'd have to see it in person to diagnose.

 

Oh.

Oh boy.

 

Yes the wiring on this car is just not right. I have at least three wires under the hood that connect to something and one side, and then nothing on the other. The problem with doing that test on the starter solenoid is that I cant get to it. I have a nice set of long tube headers in the way. I have to pull those off before I can get to the starter, which I am assuming is a mini starter. The battery is new, along with the cables.

 

If the car has an automatic transmission try putting it in neutral instead of park, if the engine now turns over your neutral safety switch is out of adjustment. It's mounted on the steering column near the floor in most cases.