My 72 F100 sat for 3 yrs when upon attempting to start it, starter spun a partial turn and stopped. Tried again and nothing. Found out that the 302 turned about 3/4 when it would seize. This part has since been fixed with help from this forum. But now I find that I have no headlights, starter, nothing electric works. The battery has juice. Found a heavily insulated blk wire that went to battery side of starter solenoid had broke clean from its terminal. Connected with a new terminal but still have same problem. Looked at a wiring diagram and it shows some fuseable links in the circuitry, but don't know exactly where they are.

 

Be sure to check the connection at the fire wall. Also be sure to check the grounds to the body and frame.

 

Fusible links some were in the wiring loom going to the alternator from where it attaches at the solenoid+ side down in the loom about 8-10" with a fuse flag tag.
Orich

 

Truck is kept an hour and 1/2 away, so won't be able to get back to it till next weekend. With your advise will do some probing with test light to see where my voltage ends.

 

Will check this out this week end when I can return to trucks location where I store it.
Truck was my fishing and hunting buddy's who passed away in 95 when I bought it from his wife. With slide in camper in back, it held many good memory's of our trips together.

 

Sounds like you may have lost the ground or the battery isn't any good. Ground the test light to the engine and then put the tip on the positive battery post, then do the same grounding it to the body and touching the positive battery post. If it lights then you do have the battery grounds connected to the engine and the frame. If the battery has been sitting for several years it may light a test light but not have enough capacity to power the starter. If you are going to get the truck back on the road, buy a good Interstate or Duralast battery and put it in now.

If the terminal broke off of the cable, the cable might also need to be replaced. Look to see if there is corrosion where the outer plastic coating ends. The cables may be corroded and not conducting electricity well.

 

As well as 12 v test light I have a multi meter where battery tested 13.75 v. The wire that broke at terminal wasn't a battery cable but a thickly insulated black wire that went into the wiring harness, obviously powering something. Appreciate the advice on checking the grounds. This forum has been a big help.
When I got her twenty one years ago I found my buddy had let the three on tree trans go low on lube. It sounded terrible. Was a shame as I had put in a floor shifter for him as the old linkage and column mechanicals were causing problems. Anyway, at the time, my son got me a good deal on a top loader 4sp out of a Torino. With out the 3 sp granny 1 st gear the truck needed some finessing getting rolling with the heavy load it was carrying. Once I get it going the camper will be scraped out and that won't be an issue anymore.

 

Sounds to me like a fuseable link

 

Glad to hear that you have a multimeter...much more useful than a test light. Put the multimeter across the battery terminals and jump the solenoid on the fender to engage the starter. Watch the voltage and see if it dips low, like down below10V, when the starter engages and tries to turn over the engine.

If the starter won't engage you can test the cable going to the starter by putting one lead from the meter on the positive battery terminal and the other lead on the end of the battery cable down where it connects to the starter. Again try to start the engine and note the voltage that is dropped across the cable. It should be very very low, I don't recall a spec right now but I would be looking for less than 0.5V. Any more than that is indicating excessive resistance in the cable.

 

I'm thinking along the same line. When the starter turned and was stopped by a seized piston the starter still was getting voltage momentarily but couldn't spin. Must have caused a major circuit to heat up and disconnect. Exactly what a fuseable link is designed to do. Will follow that black wire I previously mentioned, to see if it's the problem circuit.
Wiring diagrams I've found
aren't easy to decipher. Would prefer illustrations of components and wiring harness as it relates to vehicle.

 

I had the same problem with my 71. Turned out I had a bad ground cable

 

I've seen this happen before and it burned out the solenoid so if it's not clicking. It should be showing 12+ volts on the out put side that goes to the starter cable.
Orich

 

Appreciate your input on putting my meter to good use. I'll use your tips to locate the problem.

 

Will check that solenoid. When the starter got jammed a strange frequency type sound came from under the hood and then stopped. Perhaps it was the solenoid before giving out.

 

Will be sure to check all the grounds. When I get this licked, next will be the leaking pinion flange seal. Replaced it not long after I took ownership. I believe the flange surface needs to be addressed this time. Was thinking of trying to sleeve it. Recall when I bought that seal, it wasn't the right size, had to bring it back to get right one. Maybe somewhere in trucks past the entire rear end assembly was switched out. Will probably have to do a cross reference on the numbers on seal that's in there. The small town closest to where truck is kept has an old time parts store that carries everything imaginable for cars, trucks, farm tractors, lawn mowers, etc; a go to source in this situation.