WONT START!

Started fine the other day, no problems at all, then last night i go to start it and the ignition lights all come on, but doesnt even turn over!? also the indicator light on the dash stays on? but when i put the indicator on nothing happens?! no idea whats happend, or why? if anyone could give me some clues that would be great.. cheers!

What else have you checked?

checked the battery and thats fine, but ive ran a wire from the battery to the starter and it turned over.. so i know there must be a fault from the ignition switch to the battery, but got no idea what it can be, the fuse's seem all alright, could it have damaged the reley somehow?

Sounds like a faulty ignition switch, which is a common issue. The indicator light being always on is probably a separate issue to the starting one.

Ah right, do the ignition lights all still work then if the ignition switch has gone? just seems wierd for it to go suddenly, luckily its just passed the mot before all these problems! cheers for the help!

unplug ignition switch, bridge the red to the red./black. if it cranks its the ignition switch,. if not its the red/black wire somewhere

Thanks for that mate, ill have a look at that ina sec.. haha, just wierd cos my hazards work fine, but as soon as my ignition is on, the indicator light bulb stays on? but when i turn the indicators on, nothing happens? this normal if it is the switch?

that usually means you have lost the ignition live feed to the hazard switch, which is the blue/black wire. this is on fuse 19 if its a later fusebox

Tried connecting the red to the red/black and nothing.. just hear the relay ticking, and ive done a test on the live ignition feed and theres juice there, got no idea at all where to look now!

Disconnect the battery mate until you find the fault, they have a tendancy to bark (Woooof) when the wiring goes wrong..!  :?

is this an automatic then? there shouldnt be a relay for the starter. unless you mean you hear the starter solonoid click

He's probably hearing the crossover relay clicking. It might be something as simple as the small wire has come loose off the starter motor, etc.

it shouldnt be the x-over clicking if he is bridging the red to the red/black, tall that should do is fire the starter motor and nothing else

Nah its a 83 manual cabby, and had a electrician look at it today for me for a bit of help, and he reckons its an earth problem somewhere?Because theres no juice getting to the starter, plus my clock will come on, the sometimes fade away? also if i bridge the hazzards so the relay starts ticking rapidly, then put the indicators on, my indicators work!? so he said it must be a earth fault somewhere?! any ideas where i can start to hurt the earth problem down? any ideas would be brilliant! Cheers for all the advice!

I would clean all the earth points up to start with. Battery to chassis, starter motor etc.

Ill do that in a sec i think, also someones obviously put the wrong rating fuse in the slots.. would this make a difference by putting the correct one in?

The ignition and starting circuit isn't fused on a Mk1.

Yeah, clean up earth points if you want….but it started fine when you put the 12V directly to the starter motor, so it doesn't make sense that it could start fine here, and not using the ignition switch. I reckon the problem is elsewhere, or the info isn't quite right.

It seemed to spin fine.. but as soon as i crossed the terminals over at the switch i could just hear the relay ticking, sounded like it was behind the dash? also the fact of my indicators arent working seems even more strange! Soon as i bridge the connection on the hazzard switch and the relay starts ticking real fast, the indicators work fine?! Any ideas why they dont work when the ignitions on?

if a relay ticks when you bridge the red to the red/black, then someone has been at your wiring. get under the dash while a helper does the wire bridge to track down the clicking relay.

the red/black wire goes from the ignition switch to the fusebox direct, then from fusebox direct to starter. no relays in between.

if an old alarm has been installed that could be the reason for everything as they're usually tapped into the indicator wires as well as the starter trigger.

as paul says the fact starter turns when you bridge it means all the live and earths to the starter are fine, the issue is on the red/black somewhere.  follow the red/black back though sometimes there is a plug in the bay where the red/black wire from starter joins to the section that goes to the fusebox. might just be crud buildup here