Hi All,

I recently purchased a fairly well maintained 1991 Montero. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The car seems to be in good condition with a strong running engine. The previous owner stated to have changed the starter and water pump, as well as the belts on the truck. Sounds good.

Now, the only main issue that i'd like to get addressed ASAP is this:

8 out of 10 times.. the car will start fine. No issues. Then, there are a few other times when the engine will not turn over at all. When I turn the key to start the engine, all the electrical lights turn on, and there's a slight click.. but there's nothing from the engine. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Not even the starter is doing anything.. so it's dead silent. I'll repeat the process of turning off the car and then trying to start the engine and still nothing. About the fourth to fifth try.. it'll start. As if nothing happened.

Can you guys tell me what could cause such sporadic non-starting? I've tried the searches but I'm having difficulty finding threads that sound like my issue.

Thanks in advance.

Check the wires on the starter, check the starter.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

^yea What he said^ If you have a partner assist you in trouble shooting it will help you a lot. Get a multimeter and start with the starter connections Make sure they're tight(be sure to disconnect the negative lead of the battery before tightening the connections). Once you've established that all your connections are good to go..I like to check for voltage with a multimeter. With a helper turning the key to the start position you should have 12 or so volts at the small wire going into the starter solenoid. If you get the voltge with no engagement of the starter then the problem is likely the starter solenoid. if no voltage is present you may have a problem somewhere such as the ignition switch. A lot of the times the intermitant (sp?) problems can be caused by bad connections. Dont forget to check the connections to you batteries as well.

Hey Guys,

Thanks or the help but sadly I have more questions. I had my mechanic check the wiring and the starter. The wiring looked good, so he suspected the starter, so we replaced it.

Thinking that the problem had been solved... I drove home content. The next day the same problem pops up... intermittently the ignition will not work. Dash warning lights pop up and nothing else.

I tried thinking what else could possibly cause the ignition to be so erradic. I now recall that there is evidence that there was at one point an alarm installed on the car. I'm not sure if they removed all of the components or not... so I'm now going to see if there are any components that might be causing a hiccup in the ignition.

Can you guys think of anything else that may cause the problem? Could it be a bad ignition assembly?

One last request. Any chance you guys could post pictures of your battery configuration? I want to see if there are any unecessary wires going to the battery terminals (which may be parts of the old alarm).

Thanks a bunch.

since that you mentioned that there may have been an existing alarm system, you may want to take a look under the dash and look for any spliced wires from the old system that maybe loose. quite possibly the person who may have removed it didn't take care to make sure all of the wiring stayed intact.

It sounds like a bad ignition switch. Replace the electrical portion of the ignition switch.

MB184367 - SWITCH, Ignition

Frank