Starter issues - dead spot?

The starter in my Barracuda is having an issue. The car cranked over fine until today. I turned the key and nothing happened. Not even a click. I checked the battery and it's charged and holds 12.5 volts. I checked the relay and it's fine too.

Could the problem be a faulty ignition switch? Or is there something wrong with the starter. It's a Powermaster mini starter that I installed in 2016.

It did this once before and I popped the clutch to get it going, and it hasn't happened again until now.

Any tricks to get the starter working again?

Check for power at the yellow wire on the starter relay when the switch is in the Start position. If there's power there, cross the two threaded lugs on the relay; if the starter turns when those terminals are jumped, the starter is OK and it's likely the relay.

Take a hammer and tap the starter once or twice. If it starts then the solenoid is the problem. A sticking starter solenoid is a very common problem when all of a sudden it won't crank.

If it's an automatic try holding the key in the start position and shift from park to neutral to see if it may be a linkage adjustment problem..

It's a 4 spd. I tried the hammer and nothing happened.

I went back inside before I got mad and did something stupid.

Did you try what John K suggested?

Not yet. Will try when I get home.

My 67 was doing this and I just replaced the starter relay.. So far so good...

When you checked the did you check the terminals ?

I checked the terminals on the relay and the starter to see if they have power.

FWIW, Last year I had the same problem. A tap on the starter got it working again, so replaced the starter. Long story short, the original negative battery cable was the actual culprit.

Robert

Clutch safety switch will cause a issue for a stick car you can ground the wire at starter relay and by pass the switch

Did you have power on the yellow wire at the starter relay ? If it is a starter problem in the windings then you should still hear the relay and the starter solenoid click once when the key is turned to start even though the solenoid pull-in winding grounds through the starter motor circuit. If you hear nothing then it sounds like no power is getting to the starter solenoid from the starter relay. Ron

i've had a bad wire from the relay to the starter solenoid cause this exact problem [no click] many times over the years. it can be the wire itself, or the terminal to the wire connection at either end.

I haven't gotten out to do all the tests on the wiring, but last night I decided just for giggles to go out and see what would happen. On the first turn of the key, the starter worked. So I turned off the key before the car started. Then I tried again and nothing. This looks more and more like the starter relay. Hope to get in the testing tonight.

No clutch safety switch on the car.

I would (1) do Stumpys' test (2) pull the female connector off of the "grn" starter relay male terminal & jump the male terminal to ground & see if it will crank with the key). (3) in park/ebrake on, pull the yellow wire female connector off of the male "ign" terminal & jump 12V to that male terminal & see if it cranks. If no cranking then (4) jump from the starter relay large "batt" terminal to the nearby brown wire terminal & see if it cranks. If no crank in (4) then (5) down at the starter jump the big to the small terminal & see if it cranks. On (4) I like to clamp one end of the jumper on the threaded stud & touch the other alligator clip to the other brown wire terminal so the sparks dont mess up the threads (2 jumpers is even better & connect the 2 alligator clips for the final connection) & on (5) use 2 jumpers as there are (2) threaded terminals (batt/solenoid) & dont let the alligator clips shift if/when it cranks & touch the starter case. I'm assuming your battery terminals are cleaned.

Replaced the starter relay and everything looks ok now. No problems since the swap.

Thanks, everyone!