1949 1/2 F-1. Flathead 239. Bone stock 6volt 38k original miles. Daily driver since 1998. Haven't re-built the carb since '98 because she's always driven perfectly. I have a call in to a friend, but wanted to check with my boys on ford-trucks.com for some input. I got a dead instrument cluster (except the manual stuff, like the speedo). She's been parked for a month in the midwestern winter, but before that she was 100 percent. My baby starts and runs fine when roll-starting, but won't start on the button. Me and my brother-in-law worked on the timing to no avail. Pour gas in the carb and it fires. I'm a near-ASE mechanic, but can't figure this out to save my life. Y'all have never let me down... Anyone have the silver bullet?
-Greg

 

Bad circuit breaker? There are only two, and they feed virtually everything... But your starter button doesn't need them, so I'd have to say... (Final Answer) bad ground.

 

Dead instrument panel may be bad accessory contact in the ignition switch. Jump switch from battery terminal (yellow wire) to accessory terminal (black/green tracer wire feeding instruments) and see if instruments light up. Or just check for voltage on accessory terminal with switch on. If switch is good then it has to be a problem with the blk/grn wire. Stock wiring had no fuse or circuit breaker to protect this wire or the ignition circuit. Guess Ford figured if it started smoking the driver would turn off the switch.

Hard starting could be low compression. Roll starting spins engine fast enough to compensate and gets it going.

If compression checks out OK then it may be an electrical problem. Starter current draw is pulling down the system voltage causing weak spark. Check voltage at the battery side of the coil with reference to engine ground. Should stay above 5 volts when starter is engaged. If not then further voltage drop testing under starter load can isolate the problem or just clean all battery and ground cable connections. Load test battery with volt meter across battery terminals and engage starter. Analog meter works better for these tests. Digital numbers can jump around too fast to read.

 

So does the starter solenoid (feed everything)! All your power routes through it's connections. Might look at that as well.

Just a thought.

Julie