about 5 months ago, i try to start my stepdad's 1998 Ram 1500. i turned the key and it wouldnt even turn over. but the "door/seatbelt buzzer" sounded and all the lights and the stereo came on. we have been tryin to get it to turn over, but no luck. the battery is good, tested the starter and it's good, and put in a new ignition switch. still, the truck wont even turn over. but when the key is in the "ON" position, we can jump the POS+ and NEG- posts on the starter with a wrench and it fires right up. anythin else i should check? thanks

 

Relays and fuses in the PDC behind the battery. ASD and starter relay come to mind. Swap them with the horn relay for instance.

 

thats one thing i didnt mention. when the key is turned, i couldnt hear a "click" like most relays that ive worked with do. should i try replacin that before i go any further?

 

I'd sure try before spending any money.

 

Easy no cost swap to see if that is the problem. I woud start there and see what happens.

 

im havin a brain fart and cant think of what you mean by ASD and you said somethin about swappin them with the horn relay. what did you mean by that/ do i actually swap 'em and try it? are they the same relay or somethin?

 

yes they are the same relay's. Open it up and you'll see.

 

under the hood where the fuses are, there should be a diagram under neath the fuse box lid that will tell you which relay is which.

I had all this same stuff happen to me a few weeks ago and could get it to jump and it ended up being a broken wire. You have a small wire and a big wire that go to the starter you could pull them loose and see if there's anything broken on either one.

 

ill be sure to check the wries out. but when we pulled the starter to have it tested, the wires looked fine. could the wires be bad and we just cant see it?

 

each of those wires are a couple feet long, so the break (if there is one) could be anywhere on the wire. I actually ended up pulling mine all the way out of the truck before I found it...