2004 WRX wont crank

[Phrogs4life]

So a buddy of mine has been troubling shooting this 04 because it won't crank for a while now. I went ahead and took over the car and ripped everything out of the car besides the wiring harnass. There are 12 volts going to the starter itself however there is only .9 coming out of the wire going to the solenoid. Long story short I trouble shot and traced it down to relay number 4 under the steering wheel. Now here's the part that blows my mind. I pull that relay out and test it. It works just fine. So I shoot the wires going into the relay box for that relay. 12 volts where it needs to be and no volts where there shouldn't be. However as soon as I put the relay back in the two positives drop to .9 and the negative starts reading .9 . I have tried 9 different relays and 7 of them were known for a fact good relays and same thing. At first I was thinking maybe somehow the box was allowing the positive and negative to touch with a relay installed but I mean it's just a peice of plastic and it doesn't seem to be broken anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happening? Also how do you get the wires out of the box? They seem to just be terminal ends pressed into the box but I can't just pull them out. I was also thinking maybe the main relay had a broken point in it, but it doesn't look like the main relays in my domestic cars so I'm just sort of confused right now. Thanks guys.

Disclaimer - I have been an aircraft mechanic and supervisor for many years so I'm not an idiot

[Phrogs4life]

Also I have been testing all of this with the clutch switch jumped to ground full time to speed up the process and prevent me from having to push that thing in all the time. And when I tested the main relay to make it pop it did pop and it did transfer voltage however it only popped once. I was under the assumption it should pop 3 times.

[Ingo]

Obviously it's not the relay itself. Check the negative connections with an Ohm-meter. My 09 has the windshield washer pumps always under power, the negative is switched and controlls the pumps that way. Maybe the negative on the relay coil is disconnected somewhere? Also check the connection down to the solenoid, just to be complete. Then make sure all the grounding is there...
Are there any other electrical gremlins?

[Phrogs4life]

Car runs great when push started. Im pretty sure I checked the negative at .3 OHMs but I can't remember entirely so I'll double check tonight and get back to you. It confuses me that as soon as the solenoid gets plugged in the negative also reads .9 volts too. Anyway thank you for trying to help I will let you know

[Ingo]

Please don't take it wrong, but you're sure the battery is good? Oftentimes the voltage drops when load is applied even though it read fine voltage without load. Just grabbing at staws here...

[Phrogs4life]

Yeah battery is straight. I seriously have like an autozone in my house lol. Alrighty I narrowed it down even more! So for sure it's this black box under the steering wheel. It looks like a four prong relay but with a 5th wire going into it like a mini phone jack. All the wires are spliced into the ignition switch harness by some rookie for sure. Anyway I took it out completely and just connected the harness without what ever this box is and bam it starts like a boss. Anyway I'm thinking this relay looking deal is a remote start with the key chain? Any Ideas? I'll take a picture and post it right after this.

[Phrogs4life]

[Phrogs4life]

I am assuming the remote start because the alarm works fine without it and it has that small antenna as well coming out of it like a remote controlled car would

[teflon_jones]

Yeah I'd tend to agree it has something to do with remote start and/or security. It's not stock so just leave it out if the car runs fine without it!

[Ingo]

^ 2nd. Just remove the strange stuff. Seems you've got it figured out. Good going!

[Phrogs4life]

Removed it car runs great and alarm still works... Guy said the owner before him installed that as a remote start from the key chain but said it didn't work anymore. Anyway Ingo you set me on a path of success telling me to check that ground. It definitely wasn't my problem but it put my eyes in a position to catch my attention on the ridiculous wire job done on the ignition harness. You are the man bro thank you!

[Ingo]

Thank YOU for posting those pictures. That really nailed it.