Hi all,

F250 CS Custom Cab 2x4 with a 390 installed by previous owner. 7 days ago, I drove somewhere, left it for one hour, returned and the battery was completely drained. It took my jump box plus another car to get it going. Got home... not charging: Totally Dead.

Since then I have replaced: starter, solenoid x2, voltage relay, ignition switch, and the battery 2x. The alternator bench tested good.

What happened after my first new battery, auto parts guy is testing it, starter good, surface charge only. I have the receipts from the previous owner that he replaced the alternator and every single thing mentioned above... so I install the new solenoid (cheapest fix, right?). Then the key barrel came out... pop in a new ignition switch. Leave auto parts store (with no charging, but I'll work that out at home). I make it about 30 yards and the truck dies at the light, and the new ignition barrel pops out. Four lights later I get it all back together, start the truck and it just keeps on turning over--while I'm driving--until I blew the starter (including a couple of teeth--flywheel looks good). I did switch the red and brown wires on the solenoid posts... fixed bypassing ignition issue.

Got home and have spent every day this week trying to figure the issues. I have: 12.62v from the battery, solenoid posts, all power to ignition is 12.4v... Just now, I got it to turn over. I resituated myself in the seat to give it gas and NOTHING. Again. I have FULL Power to my ACC and in ON. (all lights work)

Please any and all suggestions would be appreciated! I've done mad research on here this week an really appreciate this spot.

 

Why would your "Key Barrel" fall out? You said you replaced this. You said you replaced the ignition switch and the barrel popped out again.
Your not doing something right with the ignition.
Post pictures of your ignition switch. Do you have any schematics on ignition wiring? Something is touching or hooked up wrong. When you installed the new ignition switch, was there a spring on there which would draw it tight to back of dash when the bezel is installed?

 

Electrical has to be the worst the full harness on these trucks are rather small but I don't even know where to tell you to begin my wiring was severely chopped up by previous owners so I took the whole thing out and ran a multimeter on all the wires to make sure I had all the splices removed and put back together correctly I wish you the best of luck.

Ps this is what I ended up with just in extra wires under my dash kinda rediculous it's like they just wanted a fire at their feet

 

Don't know if this will help or not but I have a 390 installed by a PO and had problems with hard starting and charging after the truck warmed up, replaced the battery, starter and ground cables with the heaviest gauge cables I could find of the proper length, helped the situation a lot. Probably not related to your problem but I also wrapped my starter in an insulated blanket with velcro which helped keep it cooler and solved my hard starting issue (the theory is that the starter would get hot which increased the resistance and lowered to starting amperage).

 

The ignition switch is a tricky ^(&^*^%$ witchy thing. You have to lock the barrel in place properly.

For starters..... disconnect the battery when working on the switch.

This is how I did it on a 66 and a 62.... good luck.

The barrel goes in a specific way, it has two tabs of slightly different shape and sizes that you have to line up properly to female slots inside the ignition switch that match. You have to be able to recognize the very slight difference.

You can use a screw driver to move the slots inside the ignition switch a little to get them ready for the tabs.

The ideal is to get the tabs into the slots so the barrel back can slide under a latch inside the back of the ignition switch.

To get the barrel tabs to line up, you have to use a wire in the tiny hole next to the key slot to unlatch the barrel and turn the key past the latch until you have the proper tabs lined up. Then you will be able to push the barrel into place and feel it slide behind the retainer in the ignition switch. Then lock the barrel in place by turning the key until the latch connects.

By the way, be sure the wires on the back of the switch are properly placed and tight so they do not short out, check around them for a stray dangling exposed hot wire that can provide accidental power to the back of the switch. It happens when a PO taps into a hot wire for something like elect brakes, CB, 8 track, etc.

Also, check the terminal blocks under the hood on the fire wall and up near the alternator / radiator support. These like to ground and short out over time.

 

Ignition cylinder cannot "pop out" unless installed incorrectly. If the bezel is missing, the switch is dangling by wires underneath the dash.

Correct ignition switch does not come with the cylinder.

If your truck has a gypo (auto parts store replacement) switch...cylinder comes with switch, bezel threads on/off.

Here's what the correct switch (11572), cylinder (11582) and bezel (11584) look like.

Notice coil spring that's made as part of the switch that applies pressure to bezel and separate round spacer (10A885) that fits between the switch and backside of dash.

 

you mentioned the prior owner had replaced oodles of stuff...if this is the same one who added 20 extra miles of wiring for crap...whats to say the replaced parts are good...Ive gotten bad 'new' alternatorss, coils and voltage regulators...These are all things that you need to shop by product brand..There are many stores that sell the stuff..made overseas or is far inferior to OE specs..
On the alternator, I would find a known good one and swap it out...whenever messing around with electrical ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS DISCONNECT THE BATTERY!!
Its possible to fry parts by grounding out or improperly connecting components. I would check the wiring condition...and make sure nothing is grounding out...also make sure there are enough grounds as well.
Also, having an alternator of correct amperage can make a difference...an old battery as well...swap it out with a known good one as again, new batteries can have bad cells as well.
On the ignition switch, the bezel doesnt screw on..thats a setup used in later years. These are a push in and twist setup...like light bulbs. The tumbler bezel and switch all need to be lined up just so and unless you get amazingly lucky it will take several tries and alot of time...it took me umpteen tries and a few choice words and about an hour to hour and a half to get it all together properly. Once together properly the key will go in coded side up with the small hole at the 5 o clock position approximately.

keep us posted how things proceed...

- cs65

 

Update:

After all it turned out to be two things: a bad coil and I miswired the ignition switch. I had the start and on switched!

I checked and rechecked schematics for the ignition switch, and was certain I had it right. The only thing I can think of is that the wires were so old, I had trouble determining the trace colors.

Thanks to all for your help and I hope this can help someone in the future!

 

Now that I have juice, I'm going to wrap the starter. With the dual headers, the starter is just too close to the heat. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

That just plain scares me. I know they messed with a lot of stuff and just flying blind under the dash, I can feel the mess. It's tough for me to get up under there, but once I have the seat out for reupholstering, I'm going to do the same.

 

Glad to hear you got it running. My advice is to rewire the truck, front to back. Add relays for the headlights. The wires are near 50 years old. I know its a hassle, but these trucks are really simple in all reality.

 

I didn't expect to pull out so many wires but once I got them all out my electrical problems went away so I was pleased with that