I just spent the last 30 min. studying the wiring diagrams in my haynes manual. There are 2 components in the fuse boxes that I have overlooked. They are Diodes which are solid state electronics (no moving parts) that allow power to flow only one way. They usually don't fail but when they do its instantly and without any warning at all.
To test the diodes... They will look like a a small relay. They have a diagram on them that looks like 2 arrows point at eachother with a line between the points of the arrows. Take them out, they come out like fuses. They have 2 pins on them. take your meter set to check resistance. Touch one prong of the meter to one pin of the diode, touch the other prong of the meter to the other pin of the diode. Then reverse where you put the prongs of the meter. One way you ahould have a low resistance, the other way should have a very high resistance. If you don't then it is dead.
how to find them.
Check Fuses 1 and 10, both are in the auxilary fuse box under the hood.
Check the starter relay diode in the fuse box under the hood. Its located right under a line of 4 fuses.
Check fuse 30 in the fuse box inside the car.
Check the ignition relay diode in the fuse box in the car. Its on the bottom between the alligator thing and the rows of fuses.
Also, if you said there was a smell, then look for wires that look different with dark spots on them or spots with the insulation bubbled up or even missing.
Check the small wire at the starter for resistance. Here's how to do it. Pull out R6, look at the bottom of it where all the pins are, there should be 4 of them and they should have numbers on the case next to them, 1,2,5 and 3. On the socket in the fuse box that pin 5 would go into put one end of the resistance meter on there, don't press it in or it might mess up the socket so just touch the meter to it, put the other wire of the meter onto the end of the small wire on the starter. (Take this wire off th starter first or the meter will also be trying to read the resistance of the solenoid and give you an erronous reading) The resistance should be very low.
While you have R6 removed use your voltage meter to check for voltage in the socket that pin 3 of R6 fits into. There should be battery voltage there all the time. This is where the relay gets the power from to send to the starter when R6 gets input from the ignition switch when you turn the key to start.
you can do this. Disconnect the battery. Leave the small wire on the starter disconnected, leave R6 out. Take a short peice of wire and short out the sockets in the fuse box that pins 5 and 3 of R6 fit into. This will make the connection that R6 makes to send power to the starter. Take your resisitance meter and put one end on the potitive battery cable terminal and put the other end of the meter onto the end of the small wire that attaches to the starter. The resistance should be low. This will test the condition of the wiring from the battery, through the fuse box and to the starter.
The very dangerous way to test this (DO NOT DO THIS) is with the transmission in neutral, the clutch pedal on the floor and the parking brake on, hook up the small wire to the starter, hook up the battery and use the jumper wire in the sockets of the fuse box for R6 like I said earlier. This should get the starter to crank the engine. What that is doing is bypassing the ignition switch, bypassing all the safety features
