This has me totally confused. My truck is a 1998 Rodeo with the 3.2L motor, manual trans, and only 67,000 miles. Oddly, it picks random times not to start. This summer, it did it to me after sitting in a parking lot while I was at work for about eight hours. It ran fine when I got in and started it, but would not start when I got in it at the end of the day. I went back inside, made a phone call, came back out, tried it once more, and it ran fine.

Over the last two Fridays, it refused to start first thing in the morning, but worked fine when I got home in the afternoon. This truck can go for days,weeks, or even months without doing this, but it seems to be happening more often now.

A year and a half ago, I had both the starter motor and the battery replaced. Recently, I switched to synthetic oil and it has burnt a little, but I don't think that's related to the no-start problem. Had the battery tested and it looks fine.

My guess is that I have a worn ignition switch, but that's just what it is - a guess. Any other ideas?

YOU MAY JUST HAVE A BAD ENG WIRING HARNESS, NEXT TIME IT FAILS TO START , I AM ASSUMING IT IS TURNING OVER BUT WILL NOT FIRE, HAVE SOME ONE TURN THE KEY TO TRY AND START THE ENG WHILE YOU WIGGLE THE HARNESS AROUND ON THE FT OF THE ENG IN AND AROUND WHERE THE HARNESS GOES AROUND THE CORNER OF THE HEAD ,(VLV CVR) EITHER SIDE OF THE ENG CAN CAUSE THIS , THE HARNESS IS INSTALLED A LITTLE TOO TIGHT AROUND THIS AREA AND IT CAUSES THE WIRES INSIDE TO GET BROKEN AFTER TIME, NOT A BIT UNCOMMON . JERRY OH BE VERY CARE FULL DOING THIS WITH YOUR HANDS AROUND THE FAN, IF YOU HIT THE RIGHT WIRE WHILE SOMEONE IS CRANKING, IT COULD FIRE INSTANTLY SO BE CAREFULL .

Hmmm. Interesting. Is this a simple fix if it's wiring harness? I assume this is a plug and play part?

I forgot to mention that I also tried to jump start it this morning with my wife's CR-V. As you might have guessed - no dice.

As for turning over - no. There is no noise from the dash or the engine compartment when I turn the key. All the idiot lights come on, but there is no action from the starter motor, nor can I hear any noise from the steering column/dash area.

Still think it's a wiring harness? If so, I would be inclined to try this before I take it to a mechanic.

If it's not even turning over, I'd rule out the clutch interlock first. Find the wires and run a jumper between them and see if it'll turn over.

James

Good thought. That never even occurred to me. I had a 2000 Ford Focus that had that same problem; it crapped out and left me at a gas station in a terrible rain storm. Where do I find these wires to jump? Under the clutch attached to a pressure switch? That's how my Focus was...

For what it's worth - I just took it out on a quick five-mile trip and it ran great.

No matter whet, this problem needs to be addressed. I'm a teacher and a father of two small kids - I can't have this happening all the time.

Should be. There's a thread around here somewhere way back in the annals of time about jumping this safety switch in order to be able to "starter crawl" when necessary. Follow the pedal up from the pad and there should be a switch in there somewhere with two wires, pull them off, tie a short piece of wire in, and give it a go.

James

Alright, keeping in mind that I'm a novice mechanic, can you give me a few more hints? I just went and looked and found a few wiring harnesses to the left of the clutch pedal arm, but none as I moved up it toward the underside of the dash. What am I missing?

BTW, I think I found the harness Mr. Lemond referenced earlier. It comes out by the (brake?) master cylinder at the driver's side of the firewall, travels next to the airbox/under the clutch fluid reservoir, around the front corner of the driver's side valve cover, then hooks into a plug under the throttle cable/body at the front end of the motor. To my untrained eye, it looks fine and feels as though it's firmly seated. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Not being that familiar with the Gen 2 Rodeos, I can only offer generalized info, but what I've typically run into is a plunger type switch that is held in the depressed position either by the clutch pedal face itself or, more often and what I had on my old Troop, a flat plate that is attached to the pedal arm. Mine have typically been about 3/4 of the way up the arm towards the pivot. The ones I've seen have been basically a small barrel with two wires coming off of it.

The best way to find it is probably to get your head as far back in the footwell as you can to watch as you move the clutch pedal by hand. Somewhere along that line there should be a pin or piston that is actuated by that motion. It is possible that it's a positive contact switch on or near the floorboard where the clutch pedal come to rest, but that's not been my experience in the past.

Hopefully someone (like Jerry maybe) who is specifically familiar with the Gen 2 units can speak up with an absolute, but hopefully this can at least get you started.

Fingers crossed for you friend. I've been where you are before.

James

it's not how it looks or feels. reread JLEMONDS post. he talks about the wires breaking *inside* the insulation where you can't see or feel it. this is what causes the intermittent part of it. he's saying move them, pull on them, etc to see if that affects a change *when* you are experiencing the symptom.

hth

//bc

Well, I got my truck back today and the mechanics found... NOTHING!

They told me that even though they've had it for the last two and a half days, they were not able to get it to do what I said it was doing. At my request, they also checked the clutch switch and the wiring harness and found nothing wrong. They also read the computer for codes and found only ABS-related info (which I already knew about and they fixed while they had it).

I paid, took the truck and ran some errands. And guess what? It started fine. Nary a problem. I have to go get emissions done this week, so we'll see if it gets through that process ok. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />