The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Silly problem, but there must be a simple solution. Car won't start ... and the starter relay isn't clicking. So I trace the ignition wire to the (+) side of the starter-relay coil and it's working fine. Somehow the (-) side is not grounded. Then I jump the (-) side of the starter relay coil to ground, after removing the wire already attached there, and the car starts up fine (everything works) ... but won't continue running as long as the (-) side of the coil is still grounded. What am I missing here ? Is there a whole bunch of stuff that runs through the ground lead on the starter-relay that I'm not taking into account ??? Any help appreciated. I could just look at a wiring diagram ... but why not blow the whole thing up before I resort to the easy way out ?!

Is this an automatic?

It goes to the neutral start and back-up lamp switch in the trans if it is. Make sure it is engaged into park or neutral correctly. Sometimes with aftermarket cable shifters the switch does not activate correctly.

Just in case you don't know. There is a load of electrical wiring diagrams in this section of the board.

dave-r wrote:It goes to the neutral start and back-up lamp switch in the trans if it is. Make sure it is engaged into park or neutral correctly. Sometimes with aftermarket cable shifters the switch does not activate correctly.

Neutral safety-switch might be faulty? Actually I thought mine was faulty since it had some external damage. I replaced it and new one didn't work either. Bypassed it and later found out that for some reason lever(?) inside transmission hardly touches switch. When moving shifter to R reverse light flashes briefly and that's all. Same problem with neutral/park.

How having cable instead of slapstick like I have would affect this? After all switch is mounted to transmission and not to shifter mechanism.

I have found that with cable shifters you get two problems.

One is that the cable can vary in length slightly from cold to hot.
The other is that the supplied lever for the selector is not always exactly the correct length.

Setting the shifter up as per the instructions in neutral you can find that although the trans will engage all of the shift positions OK it will not always contact the saftey switch in the park position. Set it up in Park and it does not always work in neutral. (the selector acts directly on the switch but it has to be exactly in the park or neutral position)

I thought this problem was restricted to the Hurst shifter I have but after talking to other people I find the problem crops up now and again with other shifters.

I will be modifying the selector lever on my trans over the winter to try and get it engaging correctly every time. I have already heat insulated the cable which helped a bit.

The switch can be faulty but it is such a simple thing I would not suspect it until the other possibilities have been investigated. Plus it is an easy thing to test with a meter.

Wow! you guys are great! The biggest problem I have with my Challenger is that nothing ever goes rong with it. Why would I resort to wiring diagrams, when four very-helpful people I have never met, respond between lunch and 4. My Challenger has a Slapstik shifter, so I suspect the park/neutral switch is messed up. Just to confess; the exact point in time when this happened, was during a true Dukes-of-Hazzard run through the back roads, near Petrolia .... south-western Ontario. I was doing well over 60mph along VERY straight gravel back-roads, for quite some time ... so I suspect the gravel may have affected the trans sensor. Is that possible? Is there anywhere to post super-cool Challenger shots ... since I stopped at a railway crossing and took a back and rear panorama shot right in the middle of my Vanishing Point binge ?[[/img]

You might have just knocked the wires off the switch. I didn't realise this car had been running and then developed the fault suddenly.

Cool pictures!

The transmission-park-sensor switch-plug ... had fallen off. Total repair time: One firm push. Thanks again for all the help ! Back on the road again, this weekend up to Penatanguashine. Probably looks strange if you're in England.