need help, 90 geo tracker not starting
 

Well, It's been raining pretty good here for the past week or so, and that's causing issues with my '90 geo tracker 4x4 5 speed.

Thursday
It was raining, and I was running down an unfamiler highway on my way back from a junkyard. Just doing the speed limit and stuff, but it's raining hard, so I slow down. The ruts in the road (older highway) had a good amount of water in them, and I accidently splashed through them for a little bit. After that, it just started to run like crap, spitting and sputtering. Couldnt accelerate worth a crap, and the tach bounced between 3k and 4k.

New day (yesterday)

I limp it home, and change the dizzy cap, rotor, and spark plug wires (spark plugs are 4k old)

It was running just fine, I shut it off at my friends house, and it would start up after sitting for 30 min. When I checked to make sure I had spark, it started running on 3 cylinders. I shut it off, put that spark plug wire back on, and it started right up no problem. I shut it off and restarted it a few times just to see if it would. All good

an hour later, I'm at the walk in ATM place, so I shut it off, get my money, and it wouldnt start. Crank, but no start, it smelled like gas and my tach was bouncing to 3k-4k. After a few cycles of cranking then letting it cool off, I waited a bit, and walked to the parts store (4 blocks away) and bought a new coil. I put it on, no change

few more cycles of cranking and waiting, and then it stopped cranking over (nothing from the starter) radio shuts off, and it clicks inside the dash... And, I can pull start it

Fast forward to today...

It decided it was going to turn over again...
I have spark, and fuel... The spark plugs looked good, the timing belt's moving like it should, the battery's good, and now it's back to not cranking.

I havent tried push starting it again, but I can try it again.
This is my only car right now, so, I really need help

Thanks alot

~Nate

Shoot it and put it out of it's misery :rocketwho

Did you try the Suzuki/Geo forum at the link I posted here in the past? There are a few knowledgable people over there.

Start with the basics. Clean the battery terminals and check the grounds. Sometimes a dying battery will cause unexplainable electrical problems.

The high voltage revamp was a good start. Did you put the gel on the terminals?

They can check your ignition module for free at some auto parts stores. It might not find an intermittant problem.

"I can pull start it" - makes it sounds like a snowmobile

I really like that like you posted, it's a great resourse. I'm just using all of my connections trying to get this worked out.

I'd love to shoot it right now, but I cant afford that... It's got a new clutch, new brakes, great tires, and it runs great when it decides too...


I'm going to clean all the connections that I can, but symptoms are kinda like a dead starter or solonoid.

The solonoid is $15, and I can get a junkyard starter for $40..... ugg what do I do?
~Nate

Do you have a battery charger? If so, give the battery a charge and see if it has any impact, even briefly, on the problem.

When I put a 6ga jumper wire between the positive terminal on the battery to the positive side of the starter solonoid, nothing happens. No spark, no movement, nothing at all.

The battery's fully charged, and shows between 11.5 and 12.5 volts with the headlights on. When the alternator died, it started (hardly) on 8.5-9.5 volts. I have a really cheap battery tester, it's got a lightbar on it with different LED's spaced out for every volt...

anyways yeah, I dont think it's the battery
I can get the junkard starter and solonoid on monday, I'd have to wait till tuesday for just the new solonoid...


Tks alot
~Nate

Take the starter to a local rebuilder. They can check, clean it and replace what's needed for not much more than the salvage yard starter.

also for the missfire, did you try spraying wd40 in the dist. its self?

didnt spray anything anywhere, the wires were junk, causing the misfire. The not starting is after the misfire, but I think something got wet and burnt out after sitting.

Shouldnt putting 12 volts to the solonoid get the starter to do something??? I tried it with the key out, and the key in the run position.

anything else? My gut says bad starter solonoid or starter, but I've been wrong before...
plz help
~Nate

Which post of the solenoid did you jump to? The post connecting the battery cable or the post connecting the starter body?