Ok i need help asap my car has had a starting problem lately i figured out it had to do something with the ignition but not sure excacly what it is. It will turn on all electronics when i switch it over but the motor will not start.. The starter is engaging and the battery and distributer are brand new so i go to turn on the car this morning and sitting there switching it over 5 or 6 times and smoke started to come out feom behind the steering wheel... I dont know what it could be harness coil switch or what. Has anybOdy had this problem? Or know what it could be help me out please

 

Your first problem would be the brand new distributor. Toss it, then let's go from there.

 

we have a distributor? lol whoops didn't know that one lol.
on a more serious note that sucks man smoke out of the steering wheel??? that is tricky id say a short somewhere back their thats making that smoke.

 

Lol that might be a very unuseful part on a car that doesn't uses coil packs. Quote from service manual:

<2.4L ENGINE>

This system is provided with four ignition coils with
built-in ignition power transistors for each of the cylin-

ders.

 

^^ snorted coffee out of my nose

 

lol Nick...does the engine crank? your question is kinda vague, but before you go any further you need to locate the source of the smoke and rectify the problem...

 

Does the positive side connector on battery get hot?

 

Ok guys I think he has taken enough of a beating ....

Let's try and help him out

 

Lmao im sorry not a distributer i was thinking of something and wrote something else haha i ment Starter.... Embarraased haha my bad

 

Now we begin.

I am unsure of what you mean when you say that the engine is switching over.
Do you mean that the engine cranks ?

Regarding the smoke from behind the steering wheel, check your wiring under there, smoke suggests a lot of heat so it should be easy to find that spot and remedy what is most likely a short circuit. I would only switch the ignition on very sparingly to reproduce this issue as the fickle electronic parts on our cars are pricey.

Once you resolve the smoke behind the steering wheel, please let us know the result, and if the car still does not start, you should post a detailed description of what occurs while cranking, or turning the key if it does not crank, include things like any trouble codes present.

Did this just happen out of the blue or were you doing other work on the car immediately prior to the non starting issue. I ask because you said you have a new battery AND starter, which suggests there may have been a recent problem.

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for a good laugh as well as your good natured response and ability to recognise that we were just having fun with you.

 

haha no prob and i got the new batery and starter thinking it was the problem because it wasnt that bad but then after a couple months... ( it only does the starting problem when it wants to. it can go a whole month without happening)...it started smoking behind the steering wheel and thats when i started to freak out about it. everything turns on like i said but when you switch over the key the motor will not engage not even crank over to try to turn on it just stays dead. but note that everything else turns on a/c radio turn signals dash lights everything but they motor does not engage untill it wants to and i keep trying to turn it on for like 15 min

 

Do we have a starter relay ?
I cannot check right now, but I would start there if we do.

Another option is to power the starter directly from the battery.

 

Hello, sorry to hear your troubles. On some of the mid 90's jeep cherokees they had a bad ignition switch that would go out randomly. It would produce smoke from holding the key in the start position for too long. I could only "assume" that this seems to be the same case. The wires are soldered on so if smoke started to come out then you may want to pull apart your steering column and take a peak at everything and make sure the wires are still in contact with their original place. Hope all works out for you boss.

aron

 

we do have a starter relay

 

Well there you go, beginning at the starter you can add power directly from the battery and see if it cranks, then at the relay. If it cranks both times then by pass the key switch, but not the relay and see what happens.