ingition, solenoid,loose wire?

[Handfull 54]

My 54 truck has 1300 miles on it. I have a painless wiring kit. Yesterday for the first time I turned the ignition on and heard the fuel pump running. I turned the key to start and nothing no click or anything. The battery is fine. I reached under the dash and touched the ignition switch. Turn the key and it starts. MY question is where to start first. Everything is new including the HI Torque starter. Also came to mind the neutral safety switch. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hate electrical although I wired my truck in about a week and everything worked fine until yesterday. I just went out to the truck and it turned over so I'm confused.

[sqrlnts]

What did you touch on the ignition switch under the dash? You might try calling Painless to get some support??

[mr48chev]

I'd say you pretty well diagnosed it when you reached under the dash and probably pushed the start wire enough so that it made contact.

I'd check the connections on the back of the switch to make sure all of them are tight.

I've had the nuts on the studs on back of the switches back off and have had issues with the male/female slide connectors keeping contact.

[59stepside]

It could be many things...
First of all, a starter solenoid can fail to engage with no click sound which could be a one time thing and nothing is wrong. Since it is a one time thing, troubleshooting will be near impossible. It's pretty difficult to fix something that isn't broke.

With that said and you still want to tear into it, check connections on ignition switch since that is the only thing you changed between cranking the key the first and second time.

If it happens again, keep the key held in the crank position and then wiggle one wire at a time under the dash. That will confirm a loose connection under the dash.

If it completely stops working consistently, have a friend hold it to crank and check each connection with voltmeter or test light.

Hope this helps!!

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

and have had issues with the male/female slide connectors keeping contact.

probable cause. but since you wiggled it, problem may never return

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

probable cause. but since you wiggled it, problem may never return

Well, at the time I was thinking on the line of different manufacturers of wire ends having different crimp tolerances in their female ends.

The female end that connected the wire to my hei to the fuse block on my 71 GMC would come loose at inopportune times, usually in the big middle of an intersection with traffic going in every direction. An extra squeeze with a pair of plyers solved that issue. Too old to worry much about the other one.

[Handfull 54]

Well I checked the ignition switch and the starter and all connections are tight. The engine turns over every time I turn the key. I am afraid that 59Stepside may be right that this was a one time incident. I will try the other suggestions if and when this happens again. Thank you all very much for your input. It is greatly appreciated.