Hey all, hoping to get some advice from some people who know a bit more about these trucks than I do!

I drove my truck home last night, it ran fine no problems. Parked it, went inside, came back 15 minutes later to move it. I turned the ignition for a few seconds and the starter motor cranked just fine but it wouldn't start. Thinking I had flooded the engine, I left it for 5 minutes, but when I came back and turned the ignition I got absolutely nothing ... the starter motor wouldn't turn at all, the lights wouldn't turn on, the wipers wouldn't move. I thought the battery might have somehow died so I tried jumping it, but still got nothing out of it.

I'm assuming its an electrical problem, but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to the electrical side of things with these trucks. Does anyone have any advice? Could it be as simple as a blown fuse or a frayed wire, or could this be something more serious? Any advice would be great!

 

What engine are you running, how long have you had the truck, what have you done to it recently.

You think we are mind readers or something?? We need mo info.



John

 

The truck has a 390 in it. I've had it for about 3 months now, and have never had any electrical problems with it before. When I got it I changed the oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, and cleaned it up a bit, but that's about all I've had time to do. The battery is apparently new as well.

 

I'm betting it's the electrical ignition switch. Look at the back of it from under the dash and see if the black bakelite part that the wiring connects to is separating from the main aluminum body of the switch. Grab on to the wires and pull on them just a little. The black and aluminum halves should be solid and should not move a little or come apart if the switch is good. If I am right let us know. Myself or another FTE member will explain how to get the ignition cylinder out of the switch.

 

Sounds like you have a blown fusible link coming off the battery side of the starter solenoid.

 

My thoughts exactly, not saying that I recommend it but when mine blew I just wired it without one! good way to mess something else up though!

 

Hey guys, thanks for your input so far!

I checked the wiring going from the battery to the solenoid, and from the solenoid to the starter with a multimeter, and everything seemed to check out (ie, it read 12 volts each time). I'm assuming that this rules out the possibility of a blown fusible link, am I right about that? Or would I still be able to get a reading if it was blown? If this is the case, how would I go about checking to see if its blown or not?

I also checked the ignition switch. It's not coming apart or anything, but the plastic housing is definitely a bit loose (the whole assembly is loose for that matter). So the ignition switch could definitely be the issue, but if that were the case wouldn't my lights, wipers, etc. still work?

While I was tinkering around underneath the dash, I did notice a brown wire that was not plugged into anything. I'm not sure that this has anything to do with the problem since it wasn't coiled together with all of the other wires that go into the ignition switch, but you never know.

Thanks again for all of your help so far guys, any thoughts?

Ian

 

turn on the head lights and see if they come on, open the door and see if dome light comes on, if they do then swap ignition switch and see if it fixes it, if that doesn't fix the problem then you'll just have a new ignition switch, so no harm done. if the head lights won't come on then its not the ignition hence start looking elsewhere. sorry for my sloppiness hope you figure it out soon!

 

Disconnect the battery, set the multimeter to Ohms and check the continuity across the entire length of the wire.

Be sure to check both fusible links (if so equipped).