starter solenoid wiring

[captspillane]

I didn't panic. I reached down, clicked it firmly into neutral, reached for the key, it didn't start, I reached down again, wiggled it, didn't start, then I had ran out of road and had a problem where I had to give up on starting it and crank on the steering wheel while slamming the brakes to keep from crashing. You have to be in exactly the right spot for neutral to work.

Part of the issue is both the NSS itself and the gear shift lever. It won't connect reliably even when the transmission is in neutral. When I slammed it into Park while still moving it was after getting frustrated with several attempts to start in neutral. The NSS in the transmission not working or the wire to the solenoid fatiguing and breaking are both related and common problems. The whole system is a constant problem unique to AMC cars. Keep in mind no one would ever bother disabling an NSS in a Jeep Cherokee or any other car I've ever heard of.

An automatic solenoid will also stop working much sooner and more often due to corrosion than a manual one because the manual ones get a stronger ground through the screws than the wire post. I've had to replace one manual one and dozens of automatic ones, even when I used to ground them with alligator clips directly to the battery.

[amcinstaller]

actually you almost crashed because your carb sucks.

[captspillane]

True that. One day it will be fuel injected with an AW4 and working NSS, but there is many thousands of hours and dollars between today and that day. When I needed a reliable car for my family I bought a Jeep Cherokee for four times as much as I paid for this Eagle.

In the meantime I putter around quite happy in my dirt cheap antique AMC Eagle with a NSS disabled.

[mudkicker715]

so if you fix the carb with a rebuild kit make it actually work. say $40. get your linkage aligned correctly to neutral $0. 

still willing to bet you save money in the long run with your carb running happy. plus its safer. realize eagles do not die driving around corners unless somthing is wrong.

[amcinstaller]

one of my spirits would die when i bought it (std car not auto) but a plug set and a carb later, ran great, never stalled again, unless i sucked that day

[jim]

Maybe the ICM?  That fixed both of mine when they would die, sometimes going around corners.