I replaced the main relay with a refurbished unit and the problem went away for 11 months. Now it's back and the refurbished main relay is getting very hot on one end. I read that these relays tend to fail temporarily when they're overheated but I don't know if the fault is inside the relay vs. something external cooking the relay. My next step will be to replace the relay with a new unit and if that one overheats I can use the refurbished one as a spare while the new one cools off. I left it dangling by its wires so I can just reach under the dash and mess with it as needed.

 

The car wiil not start.the starter is good, main relayisgood and the starter is getting juice.When i depress the clutch and try to start i get nothing at all, i can push crank it and it starts and everything works fine just will not start with key.

 

When you press the clutch pedal, and turn the key, the starter DOES NOT spin the engine? Check whether you get 12v at the BIG wire on the starter. Then check whether you get 12v at the small wire on the starter (when you turn the key to START). If you DO get voltage there, then it seems the starter isn't really good.

If not, which wire isn't getting 12v?

 

I replaced the main relay and ignition coil twice in case they were bad replacement parts and the problem persisted. Also, the coil produces no spark on my test light when the problem is occurring even though a multi-meter shows it's getting 12 volts on its low voltage side before and after the problem begins. What kind of malfunction would disallow spark from three different ignition coils and main relays even when 12 volts is reaching the coil? When problem is occurring tach needle does not move when cranking the engine. Also, the problem correlates with hot weather and when the car runs it runs perfectly at all RPMs and has only 90k miles.

 

I'll suggest not replacing parts until you figure out why you are not getting spark.

The coil gets power on the blk/yel wire on the main relay. The coil is grounded by the ignition control module (aka ignitor). The ground is removed from the coil by the ignitor and the coil fires to the distributor. The signal for the ignitor to remove that ground comes from the engine computer (ECU).

The main relay is really two relays in one unit. If you have 12V to the blk/yel wire at the coil, then the main relay is doing its job.

The first step is to check for engine codes. Post any codes on here.