Hi all,

Happy Superbowl Sunday!!!!

I had posted about this particular problem a few months ago, but let that thread die since I did not have the required information that some asked for - mainly because I did not know.

Symptoms:

The truck has an Olds 403 engine with a Delco distributor. The truck also has a push button start so you turn the key and push the button - kind of strange.

I found that if I wired the distributor directly from the battery then it starts (just troubleshooting). So I started tracing back the wire from the distributor and it comes into the cab under the dash on the right under the glove box. At first I thought it went directly to the ignition switch, but upon further investigation I see that it does not and continues on in the bundle. Not sure where it goes.

Question:

Is this a symptom of a bad ignition switch? A bad fuse somewhere? (might be a dumb question). A bad wire?

There are a ton of wires all bundled together and I hate to unravel all of that to trace the wire, but will if I need to. I have included a few pics of what my distributor looks like so that it might help determine where the problem is.

Sorry, but I am really new to this and do not know a lot about this kind of problem.

The first pic is the entire distributor. The second pic is a closeup of where the wire connected to the distributor (right hand side) and the third is from the left side.

Sorry about the pics - not sure why they went sideways!

Thanks for you help!

 

Run the dist power wire to a toggle switch and then to the battery..... Should cure it all

 

You know - that might just do until I can get rid of the engine and put a ford engine in there. That has been my goal.

Thanks!

 

I'm not knocking it..... I'm a if it ain't broke don't fix it guy. I'd wait to mess with it till something died on it major personally

It will work, we do it all the time

 

Nope - totally understand and I am good with it too. Problem with having an off brand engine in there and posting on a Ford forum is that there may not be as much expertise as there would be with a ford engine.

 

Put that switch in and it works great! Thanks for the tip. This will get me through until I can restore it all back to original.

Mike

 

If you want a push button that won't fail go to napa and get an ST6 push button. Then just hook your existing wires to it. It looks like a dimmer switch, best I have found.

 

Glad to help