All, I've read just about every thread, article and manual I could on this issue, but my symptoms are not 100% lining up, so I thought I would post and see if anyone has some insight. I have '98 D1 and sometimes it will not start. The symptom is always the same, will crank briefly and try to catch but fail to fire. It will do this regardless of it being hot or cold. It's intermittent as well and no combination of being in P or N, foot on brake or off, parking brake on or off makes a difference. I have the key fob and can confirm the immobilizer is off. I can also hear the fuel pump prime in position 2, but that does not guarantee a start. Again, cranks briefly... tries to fire and does not catch.

When it does decide start, it's perfect.. BAM fires right up and runs great. It has never cut out on my while driving yet

Sometimes I hear clicking coming from the passenger area.. but I'm not yet sure how that may be connected. My D1 has the green box of death and not the spider. I would love to be rid of the stupid green box and any immobilizer, but from reading, this seems like it's not possible..

My current theory is that this is the CPS, but I have not changed it yet and am about to.

I did redo all ground connections to the battery and made and ran all new P and N battery cables (to ground and to the starter) as the old ones were corroded beyond belief. The starter actually looks pretty new.
I charged the battery and don't suspect it's the issue as it sometimes cranks and starts just fine, but am preparing to swap it anyway.

I had work done recently on the transfer case, as the shift linkage was actually on backwards.. but it started and ran fine after that.

I am getting ready to replace all plugs and cables, but want to make sure I'm only doing one thing at a time...

All of that said... is starting with the CPS the most logical thing.. Thoughts? Does this make the most sense, or should I look at, or check something else first?

BTW, for the life of me, I cannot find a rave manual download that works at all anymore!!

Anyway, any tips would be greatly appreciated as I am slowly losing my mind on this one!!

EDIT - forgot to mention, no error lights on dash either, no check engine light coming on and no codes either...

 

The CPS is absolutely the first place you should check. Make sure the plug connector to it is clean, and that the first few inches of wire coming from it aren’t all chewed up. This was the cause of my no-start issues.

Also make sure the wiring to the starter is connecting properly.

And check the wiring harness going to the fuel pump, make sure all the plugs are properly connected.

 

Perfect, will do and will post the results of the CPS swap...

 

So, in the spirit of always start with the obvious, I got to thinking that I did not have the issue until after the transfer case work was done... after reading more, I started to suspect a maladjusted XYZ cable since they would have had to pull all of that apart when fixing the transfer case.

Sure enough, if I finesse the shifter, I can get it to start and then if I leave it alone, it will always start... so once finessed, it's 100%. At least for the last 5 times I've now tried it, LOL...

Now I have to adjust it so it's 100%

I will keep this updated...

 

Just to follow up on this, I ended up working with the place that did the transfer case work and they agreed to swap the CPS for me. It's now started every time I've tried it and seems to be cranking the way it should now. So yeah, CPS!

 

Great news.

 

Yeah, I think the XYZ switch linkage was a red herring. In researching further, and talking to the mechanic, if the XYZ switch is bad, or the linkage needs adjustment, that usually results in no cranking at all. We debated on CPS vs Ignition switch for a bit, but the owner of the shop agreed the CPS was most logical.

Either way, I hope this helps someone else while troubleshooting. I think a lot of what I posted here is a repeat of other information about suspecting the CPS... and within a certain set of symptoms, it really is the most logical thing to replace first.

 

And for the Rave, I think waltnyc still has the link in his signature.

 

RAVE in pdf available in the google link in my sig. Plus a bunch of other useful stuff