Alright gents, here goes:

I have my 69 F100 that has a 460 in it, and has been running fine. I took it out this morning to breakfast, again, everything running fine. When I got back out to the truck after breakfast, I got it, tried to start her up, and nothing. No click, no starter turn, or anything. Nice puff of smoke coming from the starter solenoid though. Cooked the ground wires, the power wire to the solenoid, and the wire going from the solenoid to the starter. Also got a dead cell in the battery out of it.

Took the battery down and got a free replacement under warranty. Got a starter solenoid while I was there as well. Replaced them, and the cables, and got the same thing. No click, just wires getting hot. Took the starter down to get it tested. Tested good, then they tested it again, and the damn thing failed. Almost melted their test leads. So I got a new starter as well.

I put the new starter in, turned the key, and it cranked over. I thought it was about to start, so I let the key go, and it didnt start. So I went to turn the key over again, and smoke started pouring out of the starter, off the grounds, and the power wire to the solenoid was hot to touch. Esentially today I replaced almost the entire starting system, and it's still doing the same thing.

Looking for suggestions on what to check. My truck is still stuck in the parking lot where I went to breakfast, but I might just get it towed back to my place so it's not sitting there. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Have you look at the ignition switch and the wires going into it. The round terminals ignition switches are known to go out/short.

 

Haven't yet, but I will check that tomorrow. Trying to get a list of things to check when I go back to it, this way it possibly saves me a tow.

 

What about your ground wire? Check the ends of it and the connections to the block and battery, and when you try to start it but fail and the power cable is very hot, see if the ground cable is also very hot.

 

Ground wires are brand new. Bet the guy that was helping me said the ground points were smoking...

 

That leaves the possibility that the engine is REALLY hard to turn over, which can not signify anything good happening!

 

Good visual inspection of wires under the dash and in engine compartment. Unforunately these only trucks only have a couple of fusible links in them. I would bring a volt meter/cont. meter with you if you have one. Guessing you have a short some where. Voltage regulator could be a problem also.

 

I can turn the engine over pretty easily. So I think tomorrow what I will do is replace the starter an solenoid again, and recheck the wires.

 

Get nice thick wires, don't use the 6 gauge - try to get 4 gauge. Or thicker than that even if available.

 

Look at the ignition switch, see if there's a plug attached to it that has pigtailed wires that have been spliced into the dash harness.

1968/69 F100/750 & Econoline; 1970 F100/750 & Econoline before serial number G90,001; 1968/69 all FoMoCo Passenger Cars; 1970 Falcon & Maverick:

The original ignition switch (C8AZ-11572-A) SHORTED OUT & CAUGHT FIRE! There were no NHTSA mandated recalls back then.

FoMoCo sent the dealers a "campaign" letter outlining the problem and the info on the replacement switch (D1AZ-11572-C) that came with a plug with pigtailed wires.

It was up to the dealers to notify the owners to bring their vehicles in to have the switch replaced, but some did not.

If there's no plug with spliced wires, the original POS switch is still in place!

D1AZ-11572-C (replaced C8AZ-11572-A) .. Ignition Switch-Includes Plug with Pigtailed Wires (Motorcraft SW-1054) / Available from Ford

 

I know you want to get her home but I would do a quick visual of bat cables gnd. everything under hood before installing new stater. Then take a quick look at ignition switch and harness like bill said. Might save some time doing a quick visual inspection and find something easy to fix. Could also save a tow fee if it stalls on the way home. Good luck with it.

 

I just realized that I forgot to update the thread!! It ended up that I had a bad ground! It finally took its toll on the solenoid, and I didn't even realize it. When I replaced the solenoid, it fried that one and kept running power to the starter. Finally realized it had a bad ground, so I sanded the spot off on the block, then a new spot on the frame. Starts up with no issues again. Thank you for the suggestions, guys. Always great to know there's a vast amount of knowledge to be tapped into!