Meanwhile, in my own garage...

The Wagon has not moved under her own power since the epic return from Freak Out last July.

 

That story:

http://www.meetup.com/chicagolandfiatandlancia/messages/boards/thread/14835641/0#51626721

 

Last August I got my Spider back from the body shop, and the pieces of it’s motor.  I was hell-bent to get The Beast re-assembled, and it was all too easy to just let the poor wagon sit.

So, she sat.

The Beast has been running well (knock on wood), and although I have a to-do list on that car as long as my arm, I’m very pleased with it.  It’s time to begin using this car as my ‘special-fun-driver’, and not continue with this bad habit of racking up useless miles driving it to the office.

The Wagon needs to become functional again.

I spent a little time troubleshooting, and came up with no definitive answers, though I did get a bit of faith back.

 

I pulled the cover off the top of the auto-trans-shifter, found the plug with the two red wires, and jumped them together.
Nothing...
Then, while holding the key in the start position with my left hand, I put both legs out the driver's door and leaned WAAAAY over into the passenger footwell so I could punch the damn fusebox.
...and...the starter clicked!
So then, in this awkward position, I held the key in the start position, and wiggled the starter relay in the fuse box. When the relay would be shifted WAY UPWARDS, the relay would click, and the starter would spin.
...and then, after just two tries, the damn car started!
I let it warm up, and I checked all the lights/wipers/fan motor - everything was totally normal. Even the gas gauge & engine temp gauge worked properly! Lots of smoke off the exhaust manifold, which burned off fairly quickly. I did NOT attempt driving the car, as I still have very little faith on getting it restarted on a reliable basis. (And a disturbingly huge auto-trans fluid stain under the car)

I'm still not sure if the auto-trans interlock had anything to do with this, but eliminating it certainly simplifies the circuit. I know I need some new relays for the fuse box (all four look like original equipment that's been deep fried), but as far as having to wiggle the strter relay & push it around...I'm not sure what to do to fix that.
One thought I have...is to disconnect and go directly from the blue wire on the ignition switch to a new relay I'd install under the hood that would use (like the headlight relays) the blue wire as a signal, to switch directly to the solenoid from a newly run power line directly from the battery's positive terminal.
The good news is that The Great White Wagon seems at first glance to be just as mechanically reliable as ever. The electrical issues seem (in retrospect) to have been relatively minor. I was worried that I'd melted a good portion of the wiring harness, and it seems I just needed the brown wire fix to help NOT fry the original relays in the panel!

 

A few days later, I tried the same trick, to no avail.

I’m worried the venting of the engine’s oil breather directly onto the starter may have affected the solenoid.  However, I need to stop guessing, and use my multimeter.  Is my ignition switch consistent?  Is voltage at the solenoid consistent?

I may disconnect the blue wire on the ignition switch (which feeds the absurd auto-interlock circuit & the suspect starter relay in the fuse panel), and run it as switched voltage directly to a new relay under the hood that would be wired directly to the battery & the solenoid.

 

We’ll see how it goes.  The Wagon needs to re-earn her title of ‘Great White’…and she needs to become my classic-daily-driver.