current leak to chassis/ body??

[Sandy Rut]

Hi I have a question for the autoelec guru's.
(I live in the middle of nowhere so getting a sparky out to have a look is plan B $$$$$$$$$)
will try and put as much info as possible - sorry if it is too much - just ask if you need to know more though!

Background
car is a stripped down GQ ute with a holden injected 5L that I am preparing for cliffhanger in a couple of weeks.
loom is a std one that I cut down in a previous gq wagon i had (& worked perfect)
Engine loom is a plug&play one I bought from v6 conversions in moree http://www.v6conversions.com.au/WIRING% ... 0VN-VS.htm
Engine is one i removed from a vn calais. The bloke i bought it off said it had trouble starting sometimes. When i got it home i started it and ran it for about 15min every day for 2 weeks and it started no worries every time.
when i removed the engine i noticed that there was a slight crack in the alloy housing of the starter motor from where the dude had obviously belted it with a hammer when the car wouldnt start..

3 batteries are in back of ute
-optima red top for starting/eng mgmt/efi/alt/fuel pumps (circuit 1)
- 2 yellow tops joined + to + & - to - to run everything else (circuit 2)

3 switches ( http://bluesea.com/category/1/products/3001 ) are located in cab -

1 to disconnect earth to all batteries
1 to combine circuits 1 & 2 as described above (to enable charging of yellow tops)
1 to disconnect pwr to winch

there is also a 'key type' isolation switch in centre of dash to disconnect pwr to starter/efi/eng mgmt/ecu/fuel pump fuses

The Issue
Lights/wipers/demister/fuel pumps (fuel pumps run for a couple of secs when ignition turned on like they should) all work perfect, but car wont turn over, let alone start.
When hooked up, the GM diagnosis light flashes once, pauses for a second, then flashes twice - so according to my gregories manual this code (12) means everything is functioning correctly...

if i link -ve bat terminal with -ve on starter relay with my test light the engine turns over but wont start.
if i link -ve bat terminal with ground (i.e the body) my test light lights up.
There is also a high pitched squeal sound (faint in volume though - kinda sounds like your ears are ringing) when I combine circuits 1 & 2. When I pull the starter fuse the sound stops.

from the crack in my starter it obviously needs replacing, but would it also be leaking current to the chassis somehow?? Or is it likely to be a prob with wiring??
Its not blowing fuses and wires are not melting.
Dont wont to fork out $$ for a new starter and have a wiring fault faaaark it some how.

comments/ suggestions much appreciated on this one!

[chimpboy]

if i link -ve bat terminal with -ve on starter relay with my test light the engine turns over but wont start.
if i link -ve bat terminal with ground (i.e the body) my test light lights up.

This sounds kind of strange and I think it needs to be worked out.

-ve bat terminal and car body should not have any voltage across them. There should be a good solid strap between them.

And when you add the fact that the starter relay starts working when you have a connection directly to the -ve bat terminal, it makes me think that your main battery is not earthed to the chassis/engine/body/etc properly.

It's hard to say without looking but it seems like this is probably where you should start.

So I would firstly disconnect everything to do with the 2nd and 3rd batteries, because they just make it more confusing.

Then make sure that your main battery is properly connected - negative terminal to car body/chassis/etc, positive terminal to starter motor, alternator, etc.

Do you have a multimeter or just a test light? Multimeter would be good. I have this one, it's great for the price and will let you check RPM, dwell, etc in future. But a $10 one from supercheap will be better than a test light for your current problem. To me it sounds like it could just be a simple wiring problem.

[Sandy Rut]

Thanks for your help chimpboy
Yes i have a multimeter but I admit I dont use it for anything other than voltage readings.
All main battery leads are 70mm welding cable so I am hoping that it is just a dodgy connection as you say.

I have booked the auto elec for thurs am if I cant get it sorted by then.
Travel + 1hr troubleshooting is $400

[chimpboy]

I was hoping some other people might chime in.

Can you get to the back of the starter motor and run a short piece of spare wire from the main terminal (that goes to the battery + side) to the small tab terminal (that goes to the starter key-switch). If you bridge across these two the starter motor should engage and crank. Out of gear and handbrake on please

Can you also check the resistance (ohms, Ω on your multimeter) between your battery negative terminal and:

- the chassis/body
- the engine
- the starter motor body

There should be almost zero resistance on all these showing on the multimeter. If there is much resistance then you have some earth issues somewhere.

[Sandy Rut]

I was hoping some other people might chime in.

same here

Can you also check the resistance (ohms, Ω on your multimeter) between your battery negative terminal and:

- the chassis/body
- the engine
- the starter motor body

There should be almost zero resistance on all these showing on the multimeter. If there is much resistance then you have some earth issues somewhere.

Ok will do.
Vn starter relay gets -ve from ecu, so autoelec tells me it might be some kind off smartlock issue(thought smartlock was a ford thing? The early VN's dont have a bcm so that means no security stuff right??)

Donor car was an auto & my ute is a 5spd so could it be something to do with not having an inhibitor switch?? if this is the case surely it is simply a matter of linking 2 wires on the gearbox connector??

[Sandy Rut]

easy faaarkups were easy fixed
Needed to earth the wire that used to go to the inhibitor switch - this is why it wouldnt crank.
Also I had faaarked up the leads re firing order - this is why it wouldnt run
And I had blocked off the port on the throttle body that used to go to the charcoal canister, so it dled rough as guts.
And I needed to pwr the dash off IGN from key rather than constant pwr - this fixed dash light probs and got rid of humming noise.

Cost me $300 but considering I have done the rest of the work building the car myself I have saved $1000's. Thats what I am telling myself anyway

Thanks Chimpboy again for the replies

[chimpboy]

It sounds like we probably wouldn't have been able to sort it all out online anyway.

I'm glad it's fixed!