a family friend had her 89 van crap out on her few years ago. she just asked me to try and get it going.

i know part of the system is working. the Handicaped portion has power but the rest of the system does not. UNTIL you jumper the starter solenoid, but its not cranking the engine. I asked my dad about it and 2 things came up. its a ford and f.o. hes got issues with the person.

this configuration i have no idea where the fuse link wires are. one battery has a standard inline fuse its not blown. theres another what i belive is a fuse setup on the firewall small box with 2 pins that are inline to the battery to no idea where in harness. doesnt match the S wire on the solenoid.

next guess down the line is the starter has gone bad but gota work down the line to find the spot.

ill replace the solenoid in the engine compartment first. just would like to hear what other people think it could be and easy remedy. im doin this outa my own pocket since the owner of the van is a bad situation at the moment.

 

If you're approaching this as changing parts until you hopefully find the one at fault you're wasting both time and money. Take a more measured approach, do the diagnostics in order to zero in on which exact part or parts is the problem.

If you have access to maybe a Chilton or Haynes manual use that for electrical schematics, better yet find a factory EVTM, perhaps on eBay. AutoZone also has free info such as this, try them too.

With those in hand make sure the starting and key on run systems are working per design. Your problem sounds relatively simple to solve IF you have a better idea how things are supposed to work and be wired.

Can't and won't be more specific since I'm not near the van---anything I'd suggest would be pure speculation and probably not get you any closer to a solution. Since you're doing this to help someone I hope its a quick and easy fix!

Edit: Found this on eBay---not the best price I've ever seen but it would get you started on a search for the correct year you need. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-FORD-ECONOLINE-VAN-WIRING-AND-VACUUM-DIAGRAM-SHOP-MANUAL-ORIGINAL-/161373534100?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item25929cb794&vxp=mtr

 

part of the issue is one of the batteries is dead but still not an issue i can use jumper cables to get power to the system from the good battery. havnt replaced anything but did get a new starter solenoid to try if i can find it. one bothersome thing to me is the ignition switch on the column. she replaced it at one time but both feel the same theres no return kick after being pushed to the start position.

starter was found to be shot so it was replaced still no real progress.

starts runs gota blow apart the column. starter and few other things were all bad.