found myself between a rock and a hard place this past weekend on my slick. drove it to a gas station about an hour and a half away from the house (gas station was closed) went to crank my truck back up and NOTHING. wouldn't do a thing, no lights, nothing. someone mentioned a fusible link could be the problem but i checked all i could and couldn't find it. key off, 12.78 volts at the battery, starter solenoid, ignition switch, and fuse block. turn the key on, and it drops down to 2.8-3 volts. any ideas

 

I've had the same thing happen and it was a poor ground connection where the ground cable bolts to the engine block. Took it off, cleaned it up and the truck fired right up.

 

unfortunately i have already tried that one also. i actually cut the end off of the cable that bolts to the block and put a new one on since it was wallered out a lil bit. still nothing

 

There is a resistor wire in the harness. there is no fusiable links in a 61 to 66 harness.

The resistor wire is installed from the ignition run side of the switch to the firewall plug and is pink in color. It drops form 12 at crank to 9 at run for the points ignition and coil.

Look to the primary power wire Black with yellow stripe from the selonoid to the firewall and check the firewall plug itself as they corrode and fail this will cause a what you describe as the connection fails under load.

Garbz

 

the firewall plug is nice and tight with no corrosion. also the wires have tested and appear to be good. still no luck. was thinking that it might be the ignition switch...

 

It's possible that your battery is fine until it's under a load. Lots of bad batteries show a full charge, then as soon as something puts a draw on it, especially a starter, but it's possible it could happen just turning on the switch (especially in hot weather). I would grab a good battery out of something else and see if it still happens or take the one out of your truck to a parts store to have it tested (autozone, advance, and o'rielly all do that around where I live). No guarantee it will be something that simple, but I've seen it happen to a lot of people. When batteries go bad in the heat of summer, they sometimes look just fine when they're not under a load/voltage draw.

 

Appears member's have already listed few possible resolutions, if the truck has an 'alt' guage suggest check connections thru the entire circuit.

 

Appears member's have listed several possible causes; if the truck has an 'alt' guage if it could'nt be a bad connection, suggest checking connections thru entire circuit.

 

COLF-12250-A .. Resistor Wire-Ignition Coil (Motorcraft DY-37) / Obsolete / Dozens available NOS from FoMoCo Dealers/obsolete parts vendors.

61.49" long / Color coded Pink / 1.30-1.40 ohms resistance / #16 gauge wire.

Applications: Myriad 1960/86 FoMoCo vehicles.

 

Pull the connection apart and check the actual pins. It may seem tight but the corrosion is internal. I have had nine out of ten fail in this area.

Garbz

 

If you have power at the battery, and power to the solenoid, then I would try jumping across the solenoid, and see if it starts. If you have a wire connecting power to the i small terminal, and you use a large wire, or channel locks to jump power to the S small terminal, then truck should at least crank. If not you definitely have a battery issue. This system takes everything out of the equation except the battery.

 

Another wire to check is the wire that goes from the hot side of the starter solenoid forward to a connection on the inner fender. Make sure the power is coming out of this connection. Happened on my sons truck, we unbolted and cleaned all the wires and put it back together and it started right up. Also need to be sure the wires are not shorting out on the inner fender.

 

Wonder if a faulty start solenoid could be the cause for the problem.

 

This is almost Identical to what happened top me a few days ago. I have a 1961 F250 Unibody. Truck was cranking just fine, then a click, and nothing. Not One thing electric works. Generally if a battery is weak other electrical things like lights will work just a little but this is like someone pulled the battery. And I also put a meter on the battery and get 12.8V and when I turn the ignition to the on position I get around 3V. This must have happened to others? Our stories are too similar. Help Please

 

As already stated, eliminate the battery as a possible cause. Ground has been checked, check the pos cable too. Possibilty vehicle was not charging and you were running off the battery. Batteries do funny things anymore. I have had them go shorted and you cannot even jump start them when that happens. No warning what so ever.