The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Aw man..can a guy get a break. I was working on my car today and I took some shots...I also took the time to jack it up and take a look under the car...

I was looking for the drain plug for the tranny...I couldnt find it but I did notice that a round rubber 3 pin plug was disconnected from the trans..I have no Idea what it is but it was badly burned and disconnected.

I thought Id seen it before and low and behold I was right there was a brand new one in the truck from the previous owner, anyway I swapped it over for the new one.

Funny thing is on the new one there are 3 wires to connect and on the old one there were only two connected.

Now I did notice that the third connection on the new cable had a square type connector..I did see the exact same one connected to the starter relay....only the existing one on the starter relay is conected to the body with a bolt..earth maybe??

Anyway I connected the new cable to the bulkhead connector the starter relay and the tranny section with the 3 pins....feckin car wont start now...

My alarm works but when I turn the ignition on nothing on the dash comes alive.

So I disconnected the new cable and refit the old connection to the starter relay and connected it to the body as previous and still no start..........

driving me mad.......

what you have on the transmission the 3 prong plug is the neutral safety switch,should be a yellow wire and 2 black ones,

the yellow one goes to the starter relay under the hood, the other 2 go to a 2 prong plug that is the back up lamp switch,

this is a safety switch to prevent you from starting the car in drive or reverse,and since it has been burned you need to make sure they connect up properly ,the starter relay shoud be grounded to the inner fender i have had problems right there since i washed it it got some corrosion in it and lost the ground and everything was dead and i was pissed

so remove it and scrape any rust or corrision off both contact points on the relay and the inner fender where it bolts to try that make sure it is tight and stays tight

Ok Drew I wil remove the starter repaly and clean it of corrosion and bolt it back nice and tight...is that correct?

Wait Wayne. That is not quite right Drew.

The starter relay grounds through the transmission - it does not need to have a good ground on the inner fender.

So on the trans connector you should get continuity between the center pin and the trans case when in Park or Neutral. The wire in the center pin (yellow?) is connected to the terminal on the starter relay marked "G" for ground.

The engine will only start when it gets a ground to the trans case via this wire when the trans in Park or Neutral.

The two outer pins on the trans connector get continuity between each other when reverse is selected.

So the reverse light is wired to one of the outer pins and a switched live to the other.

ok I have brain freeze now......pictures are great....

I took some and will post em later

RedRaven wrote:ok I have brain freeze now......pictures are great....

I have re-worded my last post to try and make it more clear Wayne.

just make sure its is clean , and all connections are good, i have had problems with that not being grounded, it is easy to check

Wayne called me and described what he has.

The safety switch has been burnt out for years. To allow the car to start a previous owner has ran a short cable from the "G" terminal on the relay to one of the relay mounting bolts.

So all the time Wayne has owned the car he has been able to start the car in any trans position.

So why it will not start now has probably nothing to do with him trying to fit the connector on the trans.

Maybe that short wire has got corroded? But he says the instrument cluster is dead so i suspect something else is the cause.

I have much to learn...........

ok well some one has monkeyed with the safety switch and by passed it so dont be to bummed its can be fixed

Check these out guys....

In picture no3 you can see the blue cable bolted to the inner fender - that cable is connected to the brown cable(soldered and wrapped in insulating cable) and is then returned to the G connection on the starter relay.

dave-r wrote::s008:

it can be fixed

Drew's right! I would trash all that Wayne. I would get a whole new engine harness and work backwards,,eventually re-wire the whole car. Fires are no fun. Been there done that.

I remember ya telling me about that Eddie...man thats sounds sore.....

anyway....I will have fun doing this....once I dont fry myself I should be ok!!!

the under hood harnesses are pretty easy,there is a wireing diagram on this site and just follow each wire,and it all comes along bit by bit,

its under the dash that is a pain

,so start with under the hood and i bet you will notice a difference

This a shot of the fuse board..I have two missing as you can see...as far as I remeber I never had any there...should I place em anyway?

No. You don't know what is on the other end. Leave them off unless you find something that needs them.
The workshop manual will tell you what each fuse if for. They could just be for things you don't have like a powered convertible top.

Wayne. This is how to join two wires. Hope it helps.

thats it wayne ,easy peasy

Thats almost erotic Dave.....very suave...slick.....sexy.


Ok I will have a crack and it.....I better get my extinguisher hahaha.

Thanks mate....

thats looks super tidy.

Nice work Dave .(especially the part about how to heat the wire first)! Read #7 first though

OK so I did soldered the connection but it was at an end pin.


Now I did have success and the cluster came alive but only for about 15-20 sec then it died again.


I was the monkeyed piece on the starter relay.

I reconnected the 3 pin thingy on the trans and placed it at its proper connection on the starter replay.

Thats where it belongs so Im just gonna have to find away to bring the car alive again but nor via that monkeyed connection.

So any ideas as to my the monkeyed job worked?

Sorry Wayne. I didn't understand a word of that.

No probs Dave.

My car some how works with a monkeyed starter relay, there is a cable that runs from the G connection which is directly returned to the inner fender.

I had to re-solder the connection that made the car run as it had come apart.

When I tried the re-soldered connection on the starter relay as it was previously it worked for abot 15- 20 secs then died again.

I figure my prob is earthing somewhere on the car. I just have to find where.

I reconnected the new cable that was suppose to be there all along.

It runs from the starter relay to the transmission.

Car wont start for me, but Im looking for the answer.

Ok I have an idea I would just like your thoughts on it.

I have printed off the wiring diagram and reviewed the connections and I have an idea where I might be going wrong.

The 3 pin neutral start/back up lamp switch - I my have it connected the wrong way around or does it matter.

The certral pin is for starter replay and is connected from the starter relay "G" to the bulk head connector to the N.S./B.U.L.S.- the cable set up for this is brand new- could it be faulty? The old cable that is now removed was disconnected for sometime and the car worked without it.

The other 2 pins are back up lamp switches auto and manual.

Does the neutral start/B.U.L.S. act as a ground?

I have removed the cable that was used to start the car previously- it was connected as a ground to the inner fender and returned to the "G" connection on the starter relay.

SO can I say that the cable from "G" to the Bulkhead connector to NS./BU.L.S. is not the problem?

If so I can move on to the next area?

Possible Faulty areas. end to end.

Starter Relay?

Neutral Start & B.U.L.S.?

Connection cables?

My first post in this thread tells you how to test the neutral safety switch.