1985 Eagle Solenoid location?

[Longhunter]

Does anyone have a picture or can tell me where the solenoid is located on the '85 Eagle? Mine will not start and I am not home. I am trying to have my wife check things. We just this Eagle a few days ago. My daughter drove it from CA to TX and it always started. Now it will not. Wife took the battery in and they said it was toast. Got a new battery installed but still will not start.

is the solenoid on this model on the started or on a fender or elsewhere. I checked the epedia but could not find it.

Thank you.

[Still Pat]

Should be on the fender. Follow your positive battery cable, solenoid should be where it connects.

[Canoe]

on the right side of vehicle (left in image) rear of battery forward of strut

There are so many things that may be preventing it from starting, including but not limited to: ignition switch, starter solenoid, starter, battery, any/all connections, etc..
Without knowing how capable the people there are, it's difficult to starting listing all of the things and ways of testing. Like does the starter solenoid click or not. If it does, does the starter click, sit clicking or is silent. What does it do if you jumper a wire from the battery positive to touch the starter positive drive cable on the solenoid, to see if the starter turns and engages. If someone isn't familiar with these and other things (as simple as having the engine turning/running with the hood up) they can get hurt.

[mudkicker715]

just incase you wanted to check if that is the problem, you could jump the 2 big terminals with a pair of wrenches.
make certain car is in park, maybe push on it to be certain. than key in engine run position. than just short out the solenoid with the 2 wrenches touching the big terminals. be prepared for sparky scary things however. if the car works at starting that way, you found the solenoid to be junk. if not and certain the wrenches are making good contact maybe the starter is suspect. could be corrosion somewhere.

[Taylor]

Ditto on what mudkicker715 said, also check the fuseable links. If I recall they are all connected to the solenoid too.

[Longhunter]

New battery on it and it was turning over. Not flooded and all sounded good over video chat. Starter was doing its thing as was new battery. Since I am still in Syria and she is no mechanic I had them take it to the shop. We have free roadside assistance, (even in the driveway) so she had a wrecker come and try to start it. He could not get it to start either. So he took it to the shop.

What is strange is that my daughter and her boyfriend just drove it from CA to TX and parked it in the drive. Now it will not start and Walmart said the battery was bad.

What I do know is the wife was unfamiliar with pushing down on the "key lock lever" (not sure if that is the correct name) on the steering column to get the ignition switch to the fully locked position. So after she turned it off the same day my daughter brought it in it sat overnight in that key position. With it not being fully locked and key out. So maybe there was a constant current that killed the battery and perhaps killed something else at the same time.

The things I do know are the battery and starter are functioning. Not sure about the solenoid, coil or anything else. I guess the shop will let me know.

Since I have not seen the car yet it is hard for me to know what is going on. But I have a question. On what I think is the solenoid wife says there are "things" that she can switch from one position to another. I think she said there were two of them. What I think is the solenoid is on the left fender next to the battery and that is what has these switches on it.  Any ideas? Could her switching those from one position to another do anything bad? Could that be the cause of it not starting?

[Mitch]

On what I think is the solenoid wife says there are "things" that she can switch from one position to another. I think she said there were two of them. What I think is the solenoid is on the left fender next to the battery and that is what has these switches on it.  Any ideas? Could her switching those from one position to another do anything bad? Could that be the cause of it not starting?

Yes, they are wires with connectors on them and they need to be in their proper place. I'm not near my Eagle so I can't tell you which colour goes where.

[vangremlin]

There are no switches on the solenoid.  There are wires large wires on it that are held in place on two posts with nuts, and two (?) other small wires that push on to two small posts.  You can't switch the large wires without some effort and some unfortunate results.  Let the shop troubleshoot the problem and hopefully they will come up with an answer.  Hard for you to trouble shoot from 10,000 miles away!!

[Mitch]

On what I think is the solenoid wife says there are "things" that she can switch from one position to another. I think she said there were two of them. Could her switching those from one position to another do anything bad? Could that be the cause of it not starting?

There are no switches on the solenoid. 

Pretty sure she means the wires/connectors on top of the solenoid which need to be on the correct terminal.

[Canoe]

On what I think is the solenoid wife says there are "things" that she can switch from one position to another. I think she said there were two of them. Could her switching those from one position to another do anything bad? Could that be the cause of it not starting?

Pretty sure she means the wires/connectors on top of the solenoid which need to be on the correct terminal.

Yup.
The blades on the threaded terminals for the wire connectors to slide onto.
Check the diagram in the Eaglepedia
http://amceaglesden.com/guide/1F_-_Starting_Systems 
see 1F-15 (Note the solenoid is different for auto vs manual transmissions)
Problem if someone switched them around...

Your daughter had a died while driving issue, that resolved with some driving around. There can be a question of how much charge the battery is getting, with electrical connections that may benefit from being lossened then re-tightened to get a solid connection. The most common won't-start is the battery dosn't have a charge. It's pretty common that the ignition key will come out of the cylinder without turning the power off. My two eagles only ever needed the key to get it out of locked.
I hate not being where something is taking place. No way to tell if Walmart decided the battery didn't have a charge or if it couldn't take/hold a charge...

[amcfool1]

hi, could neutral safety switch, good luck, gz

[Longhunter]

OK. So this is a really bad picture but it shows the box my wife was talking about that had switches on it. Tp the left of the battery you can see about half of the box and one of the red switches. After looking at the picture Canoe sent I can definitely say it is not the solenoid.

She is going now to get a better picture. I am having her point it out to the mechanic in case it has something to do with keeping the car from starting.

Any ideas? I am thinking it is aftermarket something or another.

[Longhunter]

OK, so the wife got some good pictures of the "box" that I have no idea what it is. In the pictures the black box next to/behind the battery with the two red switches. It looks to be wired into the harness.

Anyone know what this is and could the switches having been switched cause the car to not start?

The PO did say the AC had been converted to the "new Freon", I think it is R134A maybe. But other than that did not mention any other modifications.

Thank you again for all the help for this non-mechanic.

Have a great 4th of July, American Independence Day

[Mitch]

Wow, I've never seen that box before. I seriously thought she was referring to the wires on the solenoid which can be "switched", meaning to "switch" one for the other.

Can you trace where the loom goes? That's a lot of wires.

[Canoe]

wow
looks like a DIY unicorn.

The top of the box appears to have to marks scratched on it labelled Top and Bottom.
I'd GUESS that the top switch should be aligned with the Top mark and the bottom switch aligned with the Bottom mark. And they appear to be set to such.

It may be a "simple" switch that switches between using the MCU to time the spark vs the dizzy runs the ignition module directly?

Might that box contain a replacement or partial replacement of the MCU or some of its functions?

That's a very good attempt at photos to show the box and it's wires. But you need to trace where each sub-bundle goes, and then where each wires attaches, and then whatever happens inside that box...
It may be a bit much to ask for shots that trace all of the bundles going to/from that unicorn box, from the box to wherever they go.

As no one has touched them yet, and it drove there, I'd be leaving that box out of immediate investigation. I'd go to the TSM and follow the trouble shooting guide. Well, not true. First I'd be checking that all eletrical connections are good (loosen & tighten, each in turn, NOT all at once), and a jumper from the battery to starter cable to ensure the starter does engage and turn. And I'd be checking the position of the trans selector for starting in Park and Neutral, but not in Reverse or Drive; I had that issue on my '81 where the selector rod to the trans control attachment was mis-adjusted.

A shot showing the wires going to the dizzy and a shot showing the wires going to the coil could be useful. Also any boxes that may be connected to the wires going to the coil.