55 1st series electrical issue

[enick72]

So I got all my tune-up stuff installed, new battery, cleaned and tested the fuel pump and have fuel line running out of a small can ( for the time being). I was cranking it over and got it to fire and run for a couple seconds
I was pretty excided untill I tried again, nothing. I have no starter, headlights, horn. If I hold a test light on the coil (ignition on) I have power, as soon as I press the button on the starter it disapears. If I remove the test light and put it back the light comes back on.
This is a 6v system, all original. Where should I start looking? System is very simple, I have scanned over the whole harness and don't see anything melted and the only 2 fuses I found were for tail and stop lights.

['58Patch]

Originally Posted by enick72

So I got all my tune-up stuff installed, new battery, cleaned and tested the fuel pump and have fuel line running out of a small can ( for the time being). I was cranking it over and got it to fire and run for a couple seconds
I was pretty excided untill I tried again, nothing. I have no starter, headlights, horn. If I hold a test light on the coil (ignition on) I have power, as soon as I press the button on the starter it disapears. If I remove the test light and put it back the light comes back on.
This is a 6v system, all original. Where should I start looking? System is very simple, I have scanned over the whole harness and don't see anything melted and the only 2 fuses I found were for tail and stop lights.

Generator and/or alternator comes to mind but you never know. Test your battery and work your way down. Your voltmeter with be your best friend.

[av8tr33337]

sounds like a short, a bad starter or solenoid if it has one.

[raycow]

Bad connection on one of the battery cables. Remove the cables from the battery, clean any corrosion off the cable terminals and battery posts, put a thin film of vaseline on the posts ane re-install the cables.

Ray

[rhodog77]

not an expert but Im going thru a complete wire job. Definetly sounds like a bad solenoid, like bartman said, if it has one. Check your fuse panel with a light tester. If your not getting any power to of from your panel, its most likely the solenoid. Your soleniod power wire is whats powers the fuse panel. Check to see how the coil is wired up. If its wired directly to the battery or off a hot lead not thru the fuse box, that would explain why the coil has power and accessories, horn, headlights dont.

[longbike]

Check your battery grounds, run a jumper cable from battery neg. to a known good engine ground and retry if it works then you know you got a bad ground somewhere!

[raycow]

Try my fix first. It's cheap and fast. More importantly, I have had the exact same symptoms as you on multiple occasions, and that was the cure for them.

Ray

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by longbike

Check your battery grounds, run a jumper cable from battery neg. to a known good engine g.

round and retry if it works then you know you got a bad ground somewhere!

That was my first thought. Do as As Raycow said and check the ground connections on "both" ends, especially the end that connects to the block.
make sure that you have bare metal under the end of the cable and the cable end is tight to the block.

I'd also check all of the other connections along the way to make sure that you didn't leave one loose.

If you have a multimeter you can check for voltage drop starting across the battery and working your way through the system. That is the quickest way to find a resistance or bad connection that I know of.

[raycow]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

Do as As Raycow said and check the ground connections on "both" ends, especially the end that connects to the block.
make sure that you have bare metal under the end of the cable and the cable end is tight to the block.

Actually, I said to look for poor contact where the cables connect to the battery. Corrosion can get into the joint over time and cause a high-resistance connection there. A test light will usually work, but if you try to draw any real current the connection will act like it is open.

This happens routinely when the battery connections are neglected for an extended length of time and it is especially troublesome on 6 volt systems. On trucks where the battery is under the seat, there is even more of a tendency to forget about it.

Ray

[enick72]

The starter is still the original with the push lever so there is no solinoid but the hot lead does come off the starter. I removed the starter, cleaned and bench tested, worked fine.The battery is new and shows 6.65v. I replaced the pos. battery cable and it started raining so I was unable to get to the 2 ground cables (bat-body, body-engine) Raycow I think your right and what I suspected so I picked up the cables, I'll finish getting them on tomorrow.
I also looked closer at the wiring harness and noticed when moving things around there is some dry rot so I'm going to order a new harness just because there is many spots you can't see and if some is dry rot than other parts are. I found this one here
http://www.classicparts.com/1953-54-...ctinfo/52-025/
for $150, is there any reason why I shouldn't get this one verses another?
Thanks for the input guys.

[enick72]

Raycow you were right on about the battery terminals/cables. I got my other cables put on tonight and everything is back to normal. Tomorrow I'll get the fuel tank drained and cleaned.
I am still going to put in a new harness, any imput on the above link?

[raycow]

Originally Posted by enick72

I am still going to put in a new harness, any imput on the above link?

Glad to hear you got the problem sorted out. Thank you for the feedback.

Sorry, but I don't have any personal experience with that particular product. That's a decent price for the harness if all of the wires come pre-terminated. A lot of aftermarket harnesses are more like kits that you have to cut to length and then install the terminals. Sometimes you even have to re-use your existing terminals. It might be a good idea to ask the vendor before buying.

Ray

[enick72]

great point you bring up about connectors and terminals, I'll check before I buy.

[enick72]

Super excited tonight, Got the truck started and running. This truck had been sitting in a barn for the last 32 years. I put the rear up on jack stands and ran it threw the gears and everything seems to be fine. Next chore is to get some brakes, no since to try driving it until that is done. Ordered wheel cylinders and master cyl rebuild kit. Time to pull out more tools I haven't used in forever