Today when I was driving and i shut my car of for a minute of two and when I went to leave it wouldn't start. When I turn the key there is a click and some noise that sounds like it's coming from the right side of the dash by the glove box. My dad thinks it's probably the starter or the fusible links. Do you guys think that could be it or have any other ideas?

 

Sounds like a dead battery with enough juice to turn on a relay. Could be a starter, bad ground, or a fusible link. Check your voltage. Do you have a Haynes or FSM?

And welcome to Zdriver!!!!

 

GEt your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen.

Clean the connectors for the maf, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion.

my general advice.

you can also hot wire the starter and see if it turns. if not get a new starter. if it does get out the schematic and use a vom to find out where the fault is.

without a good battery and cables you are looking for troubles to multiply

 

it the box i circled in yellow where the starter relay is? me and my dad checked for voltage at the starter but didnt heve any so we think itd the starter relay but were not sure where it is.

 

Sounds like an ignition switch. Mine did the same thing.

 

www.xenons130.com - download the FSMs. On the 1983 FSM EL-130 lists all the relays in that box....

 

I just happen to have a lot of Haynes manual / FSM scans handy.

 

thanks alot nismo *****. will i have to remove the dash to get to the igntion relay or can i get to it by taking of the two panels underneath it above where your feet would go? the car isnt at my house so i cant go check right now.

 

Hopefully you meant PICK.

 

He's just saying what we were all afraid to say lol ;P

 

oh my bad of course i ment pick i changed the ignition relay and charged the battery because i left a light on. now the starter is getting power again but the car still wont start. the engine will keep cranking as long as i hold it though. i think the problem is the fuel pump isnt turning on.

 

You can verify, when you turn the car to "On" you will hear (or you wont, signaling it isn't working) the fuel pump run for 3-5 seconds, priming your fuel system.

 

OK the best i can tell from reading the fsm is that fuel pump relay is the relay behind the front one with all those wires going in to it. does anybody know if this is right? i changed this relay and the fuel pump still isn't turning on. does anybody know where i could find a replacement for the fuel pump relay under the hood? and also could somebody explian to me how to jump start the fuel pump

 

The fuel pump relay is green. Keep looking.

 

in the fsm it only shows 3 relays there i found all three but none of them are green

 

That's not it - but you are in the right area. The relay should be the same size/shape as the ones under the hood on the passenger side towards the front of the wheel well in the engine bay. They have a cover over top of them - pop the cover off and you'll see the style that the realys are. IIRC they are all black ones under the hood but the fuel pump relay is usually green like Nismo Pick pointed out...

 

It looks like that might be the seat belt timer (unit #7 in the diagram above).

 

Found a picture of my '83 turbo with the dash off so you can see the relay...

 

so checked the voltage at both of the fuel pump relays and neither of them are getting power to them. do you guys have any idea on what is causing that?

 

Burnt fusible links or a disconnected main battery wire.

 

i ran a wire from the battery to a toggle switch and from there to the fuel pump. the fuel pump will now turn on when i flip that switch but i still cant get the car to start. the the starter spins the engine but it never fires up. tomorrow im going to check for sparks and try to borrow a fuel pressure gauge to check the fuel pressure.

 

Lol - yes check for spark - no spark no explosion I would check to see if the ECU is sending the signal out to turn the fuel pump on. If not then it's not going to be in "run" mode and you won't get any spark....

 

Um did you check the positive wire? My 81 had a bad positve wire thought I blew the engine. Litterally was going to push it out for the wrecker then my bud saw I had 10 amps on a brand new battery. . . They are right car must have exact amount of amps to run. And if they don't they will make life a liveing hell. Worst thing to do is start hacking at the wireing though be careful how you go about jump starting lol

 

Also remove the oil pressure sensor with key on wire is by the oil filter some reason my 80 and 81 kick on the fuel pump until its plugged back in.

 

does anybody know what helped him?