94 lesabre starter relay location

94 lesabre 3.8. No power to starter. Starts when power applied to solinoid, & when power applied to yellow lead going into neutral safety switch. From looks of wiring diagram it looks like it's the starter solinoid, however the Haynes manual doesn't say where it is. Not on firewall. Any ideas. Thanks

Should be right on the starter itself, it's the small can shaped piece mounted on the stater. Correct me if I'm wrong.:uhoh:

Sorry, but this post is a contradiction of statements. You said “starts when power applied to solinoid, & when power applied to yellow lead going into neutral safety switch", you then said “from looks of wiring diagram it looks like it's the starter solinoid, however the Haynes manual doesn't say where it is”. :screwy:

If you jumped it out, you must have found it! Could you be talking about the “starter enable relay”? If so, it is hidden behind the dash behind the speedometer.. If you don’t have power to the starter solenoid with the ignition switch made, it is either a VATS problem, or the starter enable relay. (very rare)! Are you sure you don’t have a VATS problem? Please clarify the problem and symptoms better, so we can help.:grinyes:

Thanks for the input. My mistake, I meant to say the starter relay. I assume it is not the VAT, since I understand the VAT will also shut down fuel. It's a real jungle under the dash, anyone have experience getting at the relay.

Thanks for the input. My mistake, I meant to say the starter relay. I assume it is not the VAT, since I understand the VAT will also shut down fuel. It's a real jungle under the dash, anyone have experience getting at the relay.

I have completely taken my 92s dash apart. I wouldn't recommend it to any enemy. It is not an easy task. It is easy to change a radio out, but get to the starter enable relay or other such buried part? Not easy. You have to either reach it from below the dash (if you can) and unbolt it and change it or take the entire dash off. The main dash is largely held on by about 8 bolts. Three on each side (about 10 mm if I remember), and two in the middle (look to the left after getting the glove box out and you should see a metal bracket holding the dash to the firewall). I'm not positive about the exact number of bolts. To access the side ones, remove the black shielding below the dash and then lay on your back with a good light and look at the side of the car under the dash. You will see a metal bracket bolted to the side of the car in about three places with 10 mm bolts. Take these all out and the whole dash is free. Then you have to undo the main wiring block for the dash which is to the right of the steering wheel a bit. It is a large block of plastic with wires coming into it from both sides. After you get the bolts out and the plastic block apart, the whole dash is free. Getting it over the steering wheel is a major pain and in fact I broke part of the unseen part of the dash getting mine out.

All in all, I would probably suck it up and pay a mechanic to do it. But that said you need to properly diagnose the problem before you do anything.

Thanks. Sounds like a lot of fun.

A quick update. Thanks for the help. I fought with the dash for 2 hours. I'm not sure what was more fun, the seatbelt buckle digging into my back or trying to manouver under the dash. I finally decided I didn't much enjoy either, so ran a wire from the yellow wire coming off the innition switch at the fuse panel through the fire wall to the input to the neutral safety switch. This works fine. I'm assuming the antitheft feature no longer works, but I figure why discourage some one from taking it. Could the boys at GM find a worse place to put this relay?