ok another brain teaser, So I had my battery charging all night, I hooked it up just now and NOTHING! I hooked it up based on your guys help (thank you so much BTW!!!) the Volt meter shows 12v but no power to anything, no lights nothing, I was gonna run to AZ to get the regulator which im sure is blown, but should I get the battery charged too? I mean its only 1 day old

 

what does the battery voltage drop to the moment you turn the key . I've seen batteries have voltages drop to almost ZERO under load and have over 12V before load .

if the voltage drops to anything below 10V the battery will have to be charged more and retested or replaced .

 

the battery is on the charger now, when I remove the charger it shows a little over 12v. But i have it on a 1.5 amp charger i use for my quads so idk if its getting the job done

 

1.5 will not even come close , at that rate it will take 5 to 7 days to charge it .

 

Well ok, here is what I have now. The battery is 100% charged! I had it tested at autozone. Now when I hooked it up the correct way I get no lights NOTHING, but if I hook it up the "wrong" way I get lights and turn signals.

 

This truck is so confusing.

 

So.... I broke out the volt meter (jk I borrowed the neighbors) we started from the battery and worked our way back. We didn't get far, we tested the opposite side of the starter solenoid and no power to the other side. So apparently that part is bad. Luckily it looks like a $13 part. Would this cause the other symptoms like no power to the gauges and such?

 

My battery is turned around from yours, but it doesn't matter as long as the POS and NEG are correct from the battery.

Make sure the cables go this way: The POS cable goes from the alternator to the front of the solenoid[B] then a RED battery cable from the front terminal on the solenoidPOS terminal then to the battery terminal.

The NEG cable goes from the NEG battery terminal to the block.

The rear cable from the solenoid goes to the starter. It doesn't matter what color the cable is as long as it fits. Mine is a black cable which I think is the correct color.

On the solenoid there are 2 smaller wires that plug into the solenoid. On mine the front one is RED, make sure they are not mixed up. if the wires are correct try this to see if the solenoid is bad, pull the front small wire off and jump the little terminal with a screwdriver to the big wire that goes to front terminal RED, this should spin the starter. Make sure it's in park or neutral. This is one of the old ways thieves would hot wire a ford they use this method to start without a key.

Assuming your alternator is wired correctly and the regulator is working it should fire up. If I remember correctly it should start and run with a bad regulator but it won't charge. It may be prudent to replace the regulator anyway so you don't get stuck on the road at a later date.

Fords used to be POSITIVE GROUND years ago, I think they switched to NEGATIVE GROUND sometime in the 50's if I remember correctly. I'm sure another member may be more familiar with the exact year. Some models of Ford's had alternators starting in 63 and I think by 64 they were all equipped with alternators but I'm going by the T-Birds, 63 and up.

It's not fun to chase down electrical problems and if you have one wire where it shouldn't be you release a lot of smelly smoke.

Hope that works for you, good luck.

 

Looking at the pics from 09-16-2014, 02:55 PM & looking at the heavy red wire with the battery terminal end...where does the other end of this red cable bolt to????
It seems to go under the alternator, but then where??
It doesn't bolt to the block, does it?

BarnieTrk

 

If understand correctly, replaced the 'alt' gauge w/ a 'volt' gauge; if so, the wiring for each is different and not interchangeable; that's, can not use the wiring for alt gauge and connect to a volt meter. In looking at pix in previous thread it appears the 'alt' gauge circuit running from the alternator to the fuse block, located on the passenger side inner fender, to the dash, has not been removed; if so, what are the wires from the fuse block to the dash connected to?? If do not intend using the 'alt' gauge suggest remove the circuit and route the alternator circuit accordingly. Further, had same question as 'BernieTrk regarding the batt cable running from the neg. side of batt. to the block w/ an additional smaller wire running from the neg side of batt to what I would assume is running to the neg., or ground connection at the alternator?? Anyhow, throwing out suggestion as food for thought??

 

Yes, it bolts to the block He received the vehicle wired with the black wire positive and the red hooked up as ground - and apparently, that was a cause of some confusion, and I think he decided to leave it like that.