Originally Posted by satch

No, how can this be possible? The role of the ignition switch is to provide voltage on a certain wire w/key to start. This certain wire runs to the Blue plug you've been playing with. This is the role of the jumper wire in the Blue plug so if the B/W wire being energized isn't doing the trick then it is irrelevant to the voltage which comes from the ignition switch that is jumpered to the B/W wire. If the B/W wire that runs down to the starter solenoid is energized then the starter should turn over and doing this procedure bypasses the voltage from that "certain wire," so the problem cannot be a function of the ignition switch viability. You need to check the condition of one of two things. One is the connection of the B/W wire to the starter solenoid itself, which is clipped on, and secondly, the other item to check would be a connector found between the Blue plug and the starter solenoid as the B/W wire which leaves from the Blue plug goes to a connector before the B/W wire reaches the starter solenoid. So this B/W wire does not have a clean uninterrupted path to the starter as it goes through a connector after it leaves the Blue plug first then passes through the connector as it arrives at the solenoid. This connector could be problematic. The connector in question can be found by following the B/W downward as it travels to the solenoid on the starter.

Originally Posted by adialup78

Ok tested the starter in the car and it worked perfect. When satch told me to find the blue plug I assumed he was talking about where the starter cut relay for the anti theft(???) Would have been. It had a blue plug with a jumper from the B/G to the B/W I mistakenly cut the jumper and ran a jumper from the battery to the B/W wire. What is this for? I mistakenly stuck a socket on the start solenoid positive side without unplugging the battery and it created spark. I then ran a 4 guage wire from the start pos to the batt pos and still didn't get a thing. Grounds?

Originally Posted by Karack

worst case you have 2 faulty starters, a bench test won't give definitive results if you have 1 or 2 brushes completely worn out(a starter has 4 brushes, 1 faulty brush will crank very weak and erratically, 2 faulty brushes usually relates to a intermittent no crank situation that is resolved by tapping the starter with a hammer) in each starter as they will still turn over but very weakly.

Originally Posted by clokker

I think it's weird that no one ever seems to mention the brushes in cases like this.
Replacing the brushes ($20 for parts and @ 1/2 hr in labor) solved my intermittent starting issue and has worked for over a year now.

Maybe this is because of my long history with British cars where replacing brushes- both starter and generator- is very common but I rarely see it mentioned in relation to Japanese vehicles.

Originally Posted by adialup78

Okay, looking through the thread if I understand Karack correctly the battery to starter (approx 4g wire) goes to the post on the left and the solenoid to starter is the post on the right, the small connection on the middle top I assumed was a ground. I notice there was another wire in the photo but if I'm not mistaken that is not needed. On a side note like I was saying before when I hook the start up directly to the batt (bolted in the car) it ran as good as new. Oh and yes I do have a clutch switch, but should this come into play if I jumpered the B/W wire on the starter cut and it still didn't crank?