Engine won't start - just clicking from the relays

[Magnus86]

Hello guys,

so today i had a problem with my delorean that just won't turn the engine for starting.
I was visiting a friend and the car stood for about an hour. When i came back to the car and tried to start it i could just hear one of the relays clicking behind me. No starter turning or clicking.
The weird part is that when i turn the ignition on to start the engine, the lights on the center console just go off - but not on the gauge cluster. I even tried this with the headlights on, they don't go out or even flicker when i turn the key, It's just the lights in the center dash that go right off when i hear that relay click in the compartment. We even added an additional battery connected with starter cables directly on my battery itself. No difference at all. It seems like the car just won't give power to the starter and turns out the lights of the center console.

Do you have any idea what might be the problem here?
The car is currently standing at my friend...as i couldn't get it to start again.
Starter has been replaced by the previous owner in 2019. The car never had this issue since i got it (well...that was just a month ago).
Only thing that happened right before: after i turned the engine off i left the ignition on for about five minutes before i went out of the car. Of course there were no lights or fans/radio on at this time,

As i'm driving an automatic i made sure i had the gear in P, even tried N...no difference at all.

Thanks a lot in advance.

IMG_6230.jpgIMG_6230.jpg

[Bitsyncmaster]

Bad starter or connection to starter. Assuming you heard the relay click when turning the key to start. You will hear relays click turning the key to on.

The starter relay drives voltage to the starter solenoid which turns power onto the starter and makes it turn.

[Magnus86]

Hello Dave,

thanks for your reply.
Yes i can hear two (or three?) clicks. Once i turn the key to on (and the light on the center console goes on) and another click when i turn the key to start (where nothing happens except for the center console lights that turn off).

But if it's a faulty starter, shouldn't all the lights go off when i turn the key to start? The headlights and gauge cluster lights just don't show any effect when i turn the key to start, just the lights on the center console...that's what wonders me.

The starter was always powerful and without any problems, it looks quite new to me (of course that doesn't mean anything). I also cannot hear any ticking sound from the starter/solenoid. It's just quiet.
I know that from other cars where you can hammer on the solenoid when it's stuck. Is this also possible for the delorean starter? Haven't tried this yet.

[Bitsyncmaster]

If the battery was bad then yes all lights would go out. A bad connection to the starter or faulty (open solenoid contacts) would not affect the lights.

I would check your connections on the starter first to make sure all are tight.

Disconnect one battery wire before using tools an starter or battery wire.

[JETS 81 DMC]

Also check the ground connections for the starter. At the battery and ground to the frame/engine.

[DMC-Ron]

Magnus,
I know you hear a relay (or relays) clicking, but as a simple check, I suggest you see if the start relay is clicking. Just put your hand on the relay while someone turns the ignition key to crank the engine and verify you feel the relay clicking. A clicking relay would confirm the neutral/park auto-transmission switch is working (see schematic insert). Even if it is clicking, you could swap in another relay to rule out a bad relay contact.
Ron

Starter Circuit.jpg

[Ron]

If your VIN is lower than 2547, check if the starter solenoid circuit modification has been performed.
(Service bulletin ST-05-2/82)

StarterCircuitMod .jpg

[Magnus86]

Hey guys,

Thanks a lot for all your replies. I?m really suprised about the delorean community!

So just an update/solution to my problem:
We first checked if the starter is still working. All wires on the starter were pretty tight and looked like new (as the starter has been replaced in 2019). Then we bridged the starter from the positive jumping plug in the engine bay and the white/red wire from the starter. The engine immediately turned and started. So the conclusion was that the starter is still good. Then we checked for the relays..as i already had the ?relay update kit? laying around in the glove box we changed the original starter relay with a new one and..everything works as expected and i can start the engine without any problems. So it seems like my starter relay was just faulty.

Is it common that the starter relay has problems like this?
We opened the old relay and set the spool to 12 volts, you could clearly see that the relay still ?switches? but maybe not making good contact while it switches?🤔

Again: thank you a lot for your help.

85FAD93B-65DD-4125-97DB-6BB027172E3F.jpg

[Bitsyncmaster]

Is it common that the starter relay has problems like this?
We opened the old relay and set the spool to 12 volts, you could clearly see that the relay still ?switches? but maybe not making good contact while it switches?��

Again: thank you a lot for your help.

85FAD93B-65DD-4125-97DB-6BB027172E3F.jpg

Not common the relay fails. You may have had a bad connection. Relay socket pins can push out or the crimp can go bad or socket pin has lost it's tension.

I use a male pin crimped on a wire to test the tension of relay socket pins.

[MrChocky]

Not common the relay fails. You may have had a bad connection. Relay socket pins can push out or the crimp can go bad or socket pin has lost its tension.

I use a male pin crimped on a wire to test the tension of relay socket pins.

Yes, I had this problem on my car too - sometimes if you would flip the battery kill on and off it would "fix it". However, the problem went eventually away, probably due to ongoing cleaning of
grounds and whatnot, so I can't say for sure what the exact fix was, but one of the things I did do was install the DM front bus, which is surely an improvement.