Hey yall, I just got my 97 f250 7.3 motor back in my truck. I got all my wiring hooked up. I went to start it for the first time and I'm not getting any power to the dash, the cab lights or anything. It's all dead. I just bought brand new batteries. What wires could cause me to not get any power at all to it? If you could show me pictures of what wires that need to go where that could cause this issue it would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

check all of your fuses, in cab and engine bay.
check your battery cables, make sure the grounds are not covered in crap and make good connection, same with power cables. check pcm, idm, your wiring harness

 

Check to see if you have power at the power distribution box. There is a stud on the side of it

 

I'm able to turn the motor over if I touch the to studs on the starter solenoid so the battery cables all have good contact.

 

That's nice. Is there power to the power distribution box. It is mounted on the driver side fender well right behind the air box.

 

I just turned it on again, by starter solenoid and was able to get the lights and everything to come on when I had it running. What wires do I need to mess with to get it to turn on by key?

 

Is there anyway to tell if there is power to it? I dont have a voltage meter at all.

 

Sorry if I'm sounding dumb, Im new to this mechanic/diesel world.

 

No prob. It sounds to me like you have some wire mixed up. I'm going by memory here. On the starter relay on the fender there should be three wires going to the always hot side big terminal. It's power from battery, power to the distribution box and a third wire to the alternator. I believe there is only one wire that goes on the other big post.

 

ya I got the starter sylenoid wires messed up, Thanks! Also it takes forever to start. Bad solenoid?

 

No, it takes forever to bleed the high pressure oil and fuel lines. Get out and drive it.

 

You had the motor out? What for? If the oil galleys were drained it will take quite a while to bleed all the air out

 

She starts now. It was the solenoid, it looks like itll need a new starter solenoid as well. I got some leaks that need checked out. I'm hearing a rattling sound coming from my transmission. Would it be the input shaft going bad? I have the flex plate and torque converter bolted down all the way.

 

I had a leaky oil pan seal is why the motor was out.

The tranny is leaking a decent amount of tranny fluid as well in the front.