97 GT ignition issues

[Hegel]

Hello all, I joined because my father is having issues with his 97 gt. story goes that he got the car for cheap from a kid who smashed the front into a tree. it ran at that point and they were able to limp it home. Now the bodyworks done enough to register the car and it won't start. Poking around the interior there was an aftermarket alarm installed and him and my brother thought that was the issue so they removed it and connected wires that were the same color under the steering color back together. I live 300 miles away so the amount I can tinker is pretty limited + the fact that we don't have a service manual means that any troubleshooting I was able to do didn't solve the problem. Here's what the car does. key in and to the on position and the dash lights up dome light illuminates. great, here's the problem. when I try and turn the key the last little bit to make the starter engage it just does nothing. once more the ABS light dims. so I'm hoping some knowledgeable people here can point me in the right direction.


thanks,
Steve

 

[ttocs]

It sounds like it use to crank prior to them ripping the alarm out and just would not start? The alarm probably had a starter kill that the kids took out but did not reconnect the starter wire. No need for manuals get your head down under the dash in the harness going up the column and you can probably spot where the connections were made/broken. In an alarm you tap into wires but do not cut them, except for the starter wire. That wire you cut completely and then wire up the starter kill in between the two wires. So look for a wire that probably has a very bad attempt to reconnect it. That harness is often really tight and there is no extra wire so unless they put a small jumper on it it I could very easily see two guys twisting it together, wrapping it with tape and then it getting pulled apart. If you do not see anything in the steering column that looks obvious then look in the drivers kick panel as that is another easy place to find the wires needed.