When the switch has power and I turn the key it sends power to the starter/glowplug circuit on one wire and to the fuel shutoff soleniod on another. Off the first wire to the start switch I had 2 more circuits wired in. 1 to a usb/power outlet, the other was the charge lamp circuit. On the other wire were the fuel guage/tank circuit and the voltmeter.
I spent about an hour+ crawling under and over my engine checking for loose wires, bad grounds, getting a jump from a kind stranger, hitting the starter and solenoid whilst some one else turned the key. Nothing helped.......frelling frustrating!
So I put all my tools away and walked home and had lunch and called the tow company. Hey I've been paying for it for years why not use it!? They said he'd be there in an hour. So later I walked back into town and was about 10 min early. He was almost an hour late. I did get to meet some of the local folk who admired my rebuild of the 109.
Eventually it got towed home. I futzed around with it for a bit while one of my neighbors looked on. Nothing helped, again all it did was go click and blow fuses.....I went thru about 8 30 amp fuses.
The next day I checked the battery by hooking up my charger and seeing if it needed a charge. The needle went right to 0 so the battery was fully charged. Next I pulled the starter out. Luckily I got it out thru the bottom past the exhaust down tube. Once out on the ground I put jumper cables to my battery and the starter, with 1 foot on it I touched the + cable to the terminal on the solenoid and the motor turned very fast. Then I touched the spade terminal for the control circuit, the solenoid popped to life kicking out the gear posthaste!
Perplexed, I again went over all the wiring looking for wear or loose connections. Nothing. I made handdrawn wiring diagrams of what I have and compared them to the factory diagrams. Here I will admit 'lectrics is not my strong suite. Carefully using both a test lamp and a multimeter I chased down wires and terminals and then chased them down on the factory workbook diagrams. All made harder I think because I put a more modern diesel in an older car.
After my brain turned to mush I loaded the starter in my rangie cleaned everything up and called it a day. Then on Valentines Day I scurried off early to the local FLAPS, only 15mi away, who tested my starter. And yes it worked for them too! Twice. So I did some grocery shopping and came home.
Once the groceries were put away I changed clothes and put the starter back in. Then came the fun stuff.
I disconnected the abovementioned usb, charge lamp from #1 wire and the voltmeter, fuel circuit from #2 wire. Then bumped the starter......lo and behold it turned, so I did it again...and it moved again. No blown fuse. Then 1x1 the disconnected circuits were re connected and the starter bumped,,,every time it moved! Then I went for the full start, no glowplugs, it started the quickest since I've had it running??? Only about 2 sec on the starter. Usually it can take repeated attempts with up to 8 sec on the starter.
So I did move 1 of the circuits. I put the charge lamp and the voltmeter on the same wire. Some things just need to be on keyed circuits.
Bottom line is I don't know what went wrong or if it's fixed. Could have been just one of those starter moments where it was in a position where the field energy wouldn't make it turn. I have no idea why the fuse was blowing. There should not be any real amperage flowing thru the combi switch on starting.
Yesterday I drove over to Hollister Hills SRVA for my grandsons 9th birthday party. I followed his parents over they have modern trucks. My speedo was showing 70 on the freeway and I wasn't keeping up on the hills. When asked, son in law said his showed 65. I drove back at my own pace, speedo at 60ish. I put 138 miles on it when I refueled today with 7.3 gal for 18.9mpg. But it started every time!
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