Could anyone help me?

[spencra]

Okay, I bought this 67 last April and the guy that I had bought it from said that it ran and that all that it needed was a starter. Finally I went out and bought a starter yesterday and put it in today. Sure enough with a little bit of starter fluid and a jump That thing fired right up. It purred like a kitten, no strange noises or knocks a little smoke at first but the thing hasn't been started in at least three years and had old gas in it. So I shut it down and went out to get some dry gas, carb cleaner and gas treatment and dumped it in the tank. It needed a little help getting fired back up again but when it was running it sounded great. I let it run for like 20min to a half hour and then I went back out and it was still running smooth. I figured that before I turned it off that I would try all of the lights, wipers and all of the other bells and whistles. Then I turned it off. Immediately I tried to fire it back up and got absolutely nothing. No noise, lights, anything. I took out the battery tester and it shows a full charge. I'm stumped here, can anybody help me out?
Thanks,
Larry

[Fmspeed]

Check battery connections, check for broken or loose ground strap or cable. and i would take a look at the battery checker to see if its working. my guess is a loose connection at battery or starter.

[rolson1039]

id have to agree connections someplace check around the battery and check the fuseable links too

[spencra]

That's what I kinda figured that it was a connection somewhere or that the alternator croaked. I guess that when I get up tomorrow morning that I will have to do the old process of elimination routine.

Thanks guys

[Fmspeed]

Before u try to start it, check the lights, if they work, then after u try to start it, they don't, it's a loose connection.

[krue]

Try the old screwdriver across solenoid. Short between the pos battery cable and the post on the engine side of the solenoid. Should be able to do it from up top. Be careful not to hit the engine or any other ground or you will be 12v arc welding. If it works then it is on the ignition switch side. If it doesn't then it's most likely your solenoid switch.

[spencra]

Fmspeed, I tried everything and nothing has any life in it.

krue, I've never actually tried that trick. So if I take a screw driver and touch the posi terminal to the terminal closest to the engine it will turn the motor over? If that's the case and I happen to get nothing, is it possible that it might be a faulty starter? I would hope that it wasn't because it initially worked. I don't want to have to take that damn thing back out it was a pain in the ass to take out and to get back in again.

I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

[Hooter]

did you really tighten the heck out of the termianls on the starter, because all of the main power is fed off the power wire on the starter, it sounds like a classic case of a loose battery connection or a broken wire somewhere, there is also a power wire that goes from the battery to the passenger firewall, could be loos on that terminal block as well, another thing to check is the bulkhead connector on the firewall, just in case that got loose, or you battery cables can be shot as well

[krue]

First thing to do is make sure all connections are clean and tight, at the battery and starter. If they are and the screwdriver doesn't work, pull the starter and test it with a set of jumper cables. Hook the neg post to the body of the starter, and the pos to the big terminal and use the screwdriver. There are really only three parts to a starter. The solenoid switch, the drive gear (also called a Bendix) and the motor itself. If the screw driver causes the starter to give a loud click then the solenoid switch is working.
Test it and let us know what happens.

[spencra]

Hooter, I'm thinking that It's got to be a loose wire somewhere. When I pulled the old starter the ground wire was shredded so I had to repair it. I'm almost positive that I did a good job on the repair and if I didn't I would assume that the ground wire wouldn't kill the truck completely. Also the previous owner converted the truck into a wrecker and did all kinds of wiring modifications all of which I want to eventually eliminate. I'm thinking that something is loose somewhere.

krue, I'll definately give it a shot if I can't find a loose wire but taking the starter back out will be my last option. I think that I called that thing every name in the book trying to jam that thing back into that tight little space.

[cduster]

If you had the starter hanging from the wires while putting it back in, it could be a broken wire from one of the little terminals.

[Hooter]

well you gotta remember if you have a bad ground then everything wont work, because the power flows from your - then to your positive, so make sure that ground is perfect, even sand the paint right off where you are attaching the ground

[spencra]

cduster, I was really careful not to have any of the weight supported with the wires. I had a little roller dolley that fit under there perfectly while I was attaching the wires to the terminal.

Hooter, i'm almost positive that it's not the ground wire because I had it working after I had installed it and when it stopped running I inspected the terminals again and inspected that ground wire and everything appeared to be in place. I can take a closer look in the morning when I have more light.

[Fmspeed]

The first thing to check is weither or not the lights ( headlights, interior, or any others work) if they don't work it is a battery problem not a starter problem,or key problem, the lights will work without the key on. if they work u have a starter problem, but more and more it almost sounds like the battery is gone. don't trust battery checker or anything like that, buy a meter, the only true way to know.

[spencra]

Fmspeed, everything is dead. I'm not getting anything. I might go out and do a check today but it's miserable outside. One of those really cold rains that just kinda go right through you. Kinda feels like snow soon. Maybe tomorrow unless I get really ansy today.
Oh yeah, I used a battery meter and it shows a full charge. Even the meter on the dash cluster shows a charge.

[Fmspeed]

Just a posibility, if the cables r good, u may still have a bad battery, what u need is a load tester, if u pull battery and run it by most auto parts stores they can test it, u may be seeing a surface charge, but when a load is added the battery flatlines, but first i would pull the connectors and make sure they r good, if the wire from positve to starter is good, and negitive to ground (mines to the water pump) is good, u should have some power. Some hook the cab at the battery, ( a secondary positive) and some hook at the battery. There should be no fuse or anything like it between the positve and the starter. I don't think the starter is bad (but could be wrong) based on u have lost all power. even with a bad starter u should have lights. unless is is internaly shorted, so is that clear as mud or what?

[spencra]

Fmspeed, sounds good. I should probably just splurge and buy another battery. The original one that was in there was shot so I took the battery out of my other 67 and I don't know how old that one was and it gives out a lower amperage than the original. I think that is where I will start. Thanks

[spencra]

Ok, I went out and got a new battery. I bought one that was 750 amps. because that's what was in it when I bought it. When I attached the terminals it started to spark and smoke a little and then I saw this little puff of smoke come from the starter area. What the hell went wrong? I probably just fried a brand new starter.

[krue]

If you let the engine run long enough to get the exhaust manifolds hot AND you have the pos cable against the manifold......you just put the biggest freakin ground possible on the battery. Definitely need to check that.

[krue]

Make sure no wires are on the manifold or exhaust pipe is what I meant to say.

[chickenwing]

I know it is cramped and dark and probably wet down there.... But ur still gonna have to take that starter out and inspect everything. Make sure that insulation on the 2 wires goin to the solenoid is intact and not shortin out on something.

Hard to believe you don't have power to ANYTHING. Double check conection at the junction on the fender next to the battery. For that matter, Check that lead at the battery connector too.

Don't know what else to suggest. Kinda hard not bein there.
Good luck.
Rich

[68w/sbc406]

one of my friends put new headers on his truck and went for a drive, melted a hole in the side of the wire and welded a hole in the side of his new headers and blew up the lead at the battery, it wouldnt run anymore. i also one day had no juice to anything and ran a jumper from the pos side to the hot block on the passenger fender and it fired. so the fusible link went out. those are the places i'd look

[Tx Firefighter]

Your starter should be fine.

The smoke was likely coming from the positive battery cable shorting against something down there.

Use a flashlight if you need to, and make sure the big positive cable that goes from the battery to the starter is securely bolted to the solenoid and not touching any other metal places.

[3 on the tree]

Do you still have that clamp that holds the hot cable to the frame? I had one rub a hole in the cable once, gave me a hit and miss ground on the hot cable-very frustrating-found it accidentally in the dark.

[krue]

Yeah that orange glow is a dead giveaway! Ask me how I know. To top it off I wound up lying in a fireant bed when I crawled under the truck!