I have and 83 f150 302 rear wheel drive... and i have NO power to anything...and this is not the first time ... here is the progression to where i am today. I lost power one day on a run home from lunch, this prompted a positive battery cable replacement ( it was showing some nasty corrosion )and all seemed fixed, but then a week later it happened again, this time lets complete the circuit (new [from wal-mart] negative cable) and it is up and running. Yet again, this time it just wont start... so new starter solenoid and it's up and running .. UNTIL i left town for a week for work i get back open the door no dome light no ding no power to anything yet again. So a good new negative and new positive cable a lil jiggle and viola up and on the road for 2 days then right after starting the truck it just died. Again no power to Anything. I read a ton of threads here, most said ignition switch and when even the parts store guy said ignition switch my head said my gut must be wrong, however, my gut was looking at the regulator screaming that is the problem... well a new ignition switch later a second new solenoid and lots of bus fair to get to work i was playing with wires looking for at linkable fuses i figured one must be bad or at least that is was several friends and other threads here suggested and suddenly 2 yellow wires almost just fell right out of the electric regulator corroded severally the slots they plug back into are solid chunks of that greenish white corrosion stuff. So after reading this whole thread I am going to replace my regulator tomorrow and reattach the yellow wires. One is a radio noise suppressor (not that i have any radio to suppress any noise to lol) and apparently the other Ignition and from what I have read here the coup de tat of power to the truck... crossing my fingers ty for the threads they have been a great help.

 

Update: Replacing the whole wiring harness. Following the main yellow wire has exposed massive amounts of corrosion there are breaks in it all over the place so shoping it next weekend I'm confidant that Gertrude will be up and running like a champ again after that.

 

Hey fellas so I think I may have friend my harness as well? After replacing my alternator and splicing in the proper 3 prong regulator grommet I jumped the,1986 E150 inline 6 4speed manual, to find smoke coming from a wire off of the starter solenoid. It has a the yellow wire from the alternator feeding into it and it was getting hot and starting to smoke so I disconnected it and jumped the car again. As running well, even got my horn to work again momentarily, the. It sputtered out and died. Now my van won’t start, though it cranks when jumping the solenoid, and I have no power respond from turning the ignition. The ignition cylinder was broken but before I was able to turn it to the run position and then push the ignition rod to get the starter to crank and fire. Now nothing. Jumping the solenoid won’t work because there’s no power coming from the ignition. Probably no spark. Is there a way to bypass this so that it sparks? Kinda screwed here. Please help.