Mopar Muscle Association UK

Well, I tried to fire up the 442 a few days back without success. Battery had already been charged and as it gave a single short "clunk" as the ignition key was turned and then absolutely nothing, my limited mechanical nous suspected that the starter solenoid (which is mounted on the inner wing) had failed.

As it's a fairly cheap consumable item, I considered it worth just replacing so secured a suitable part. After faffing around for half an hour trying to get to the nuts under the front wing released, I finally secured all the right wires in the right places and was suitably rewarded when the oil pressure light came on as I advanced the key.

However, my initial smugness at having correctly identified the fault was short-lived: a further turn of the key to actually start it yielded the same short ominous "clunk" and lack of anything else as before. So, whilst it's possible my new solenoid was faulty off the shelf, I have to consider that this was a symptom of the non-starting and not the underlying cause. I'm going to invest in a new ignition coil and clean all the connections before re-trying with another new solenoid but if anyone's got any other ideas on what may be causing this failure, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

I’d doubt it’s the ignition coil. Connection cleaning is a good idea. I’d recheck the battery with a known good one then look at the starter motor,it might just be stuck.

Agree with the Captain, recheck the battery first. Check all battery connections including engine and body earth. The try a jump start from a running vehicle with jump leads. If this works try a new battery

is it a little clunk ? or a big clunk?

is it manual car?
As said check both positive and earth wires , if no fault found.

Take off both the positive wire and the earth wire, clean the ends of cable and engine where eath wire fixes with rough sandpaper and refit..

(If you remove any positive wires take it off at the battery first )

What area do you live in Alan, maybe a member close to you could call in and have a look.

Short out the posts on the starter solenoid with a screwdriver briefly. (forces the connection). See if car turns over.
Check safety switch as well. I got caught with that when car didnt think it was in P or N.

Thanks all for your thoughts/comments.

Fortunately I have another battery and spare starter motor so if either of these prove to be the culprit, it should be a relatively simple matter to resolve.