'79 CJ-7 ignition needs some help.

• Position: Cars

DEAR TOM AND RAY:

I have a 1979 Jeep CJ-7 with a 5-liter V-8 engine. The ignition switch is on the steering column. It has accessory-only, ignition-on, run positions and a spring-loaded, crank position that activates the starter motor as long as you hold the key there. To start the engine, I turn the ignition to the crank position, and the starter motor cranks normally. The engine will not start until after I release the key and it springs back to the ignition-on, run position. I wired a remote starter switch directly into the starter solenoid and tried starting the car with that. As long as the ignition switch was in the run position, the starter motor would crank and the engine fire up normally while the starter motor was still turning. Any ideas? -- MICHAEL

RAY: The first thing I'd suspect and test would be a bad ignition switch in the steering column.

TOM: What you want to do is test that crank position. When the key is in the crank position, both the starter motor and the coil are supposed to get power.

RAY: The starter motor, obviously, gets power to crank the engine and get it turning. And the coil gets power to fire the spark plugs, so that once the engine starts turning, it will catch and keep running on its own. You're obviously getting juice to the starter motor in the crank position, but maybe not to the coil.

TOM: You can find out with a test light. You obviously have some basic skills...