He my name is dan

I have a 1981 ford f150 ranger lariat, sorry if spelled wrong. 351m auto 4x4 standard cab short bed was once blue and white now is painted white (mostly)

I got if from a gent down the road from me as he and his son could not get it running after several months they put a for sale sign up.

well after many vacuum line were replaced and connected, truck starts and runs.

Now on to electrical ??????
gauges tach works every now and then, oil pressure never has moved, all others work fine. need to pull dash and insure no rats or signs of rats feeding on wires.

But my first head banger is horn works unless key in at run position or engine is running? have not tried the cruse as the universals need replaced and both shafts are out.

Anyone have any ideas on the horn?

Thanks
dan

 

Welcome, Dan! And especially to another '81 owner.

Yes, I have an idea on the horn as I had the same thing - it worked with the ignition off, but not on or running. And the problem was with the turn signal mechanism that wasn't grounding things in the steering column. I was also having a problem with it not canceling, so I pulled it out and discovered it was broken. Sure enough, when I replaced it the horn worked and the signals canceled after turns.

On the oil pressure, I'll bet either the wire is off the sender or the sender is bad. It sits at the top back of the block and they do go bad. The way to test is to pull the wire off the sender and ground it while someone watches the gauge, which should head to the peg. If so, then the wiring and gauge are good and the sender is bad.

 

In terms of the oil sender, you might want to be sure you have the correct one as well. There is one that works with the idiot light and one that works with a gauge as I recall. Start with the connections though.

 

Thanks

I've had to redo a few wires from the drivers side to engine as PO let wire get to close to header have added more wire to reroute using the AC line to keep the wires from dropping down there.

Need to fix the radio wiring as some one hacked that up bad, found a large nest in area where dash speaker would be. What color is the primary power wire and the memory back up wire as currently the radio has a wire running from battery to radio has power all the time, I found and fixed the speaker wires that run to the doors, but cannot at this time find any thing for power up there? The haines manual has no radio for the truck??? any ideas on where to get a good manual?

The column was just replaced "rebuilt" one from ebay as the cast part near the steering wheel, were falling out when the wheel was turned. So that sucks 250.00 for that and 90 for the turn signal cam thing that bites.

Will try the ground on oil pressure guage next time I work on it. Battery is dead, see above and now on charger.

mostly electrical issues with this truck,

list thus far

radio power
cab lights, when doors open and when switched on center back or cab inside.
Wipers
washer pump power
got a buzzer sound for a few when messing with the door switches plunger type that are to close circuit for cab lights? is this a seat belt or head lights on warning buzzer as head lights were on at the time?


Mechanical things left to do
-getting drive shaft repaired now, shop is busy hopefully next week found the from to be from another year of ford truck with wrong yoke and installed back wards, rear is correct but needs to have u-joints replace and balanced,
-rear end needs pinion and wheel seals done.
-rear brakes
-replace 3 brake line and flush fluid.

Later
Dan

 

This was posted in this thread:

 

The best electrical manual you could get is the correct Ford EVTM for your truck.
There are a few on Ebay, and one seller is offering a complete set of factory manuals.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Truck-1981-Bronco-F-Series-Electrical-Manual-EVTM-/330543713873?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item4cf5f0ce51&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-Ford-Bronco-F100-350-Courier-EVTM-Diagrams-Manual-/190093902213?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item2c427ac185&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-Ford-F-150-350-Bronco-Truck-Service-Manual-Set-/230884638774?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item35c1cc0036&vxp=mtr

 

Amen! I can't do w/o my EVTM or the factory shop manuals.

 

thanks again

Will look for the wires only found ant cable and the speaker wires thus far, will pole around more after getting dash cover off need to make sure no more rats nests.

order the whole set better to have and not need than grope around in the dark.

 

As was said, yellow/black is the switched power for the radio, there was no radios with electronic "memory" back then. The only memory was the black pushbuttons on the front that stored the stations mechanically. If you want to put a more modern radio in place, you will have to cut the plastic in the dash or get a later dash piece with the opening already there, and you can tap into the cigarette lighter wire down below for the hot all the time memory.

 

The set includes the Chassis electrical manual as well as the EVTM.

You say "351M" so I'm assuming the 2V set is the right one for you.

 

FYI You can get a complete set of manuals on CD for about $30

 

In the later years (1984+ IIRC) the factory used the light green/yellow-stripe wire for constant radio power (station & clock memories, etc.). That wire is back there (just not in the radio plug) you could tap into that if you wanted to.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread but is the signal cancel cam a replaceable type or is the whole unit needed to be replaced?

 

Don't know the answer to that as I had a whole unit. But I seem to remember the cam in the HELP section at the auto parts store.

 

Thanks o the replies

-I found the oil pressure guage works, switch on order.

- Got dome light to work, map lights small switched light only work when holding the switch., not sure if can fix these or not?

- Need to replace the door switches as blasting with contact cleaner helped a little but not fully.

-Buzzer is for lights on, when drivers door opened.

-Radio mess fixed and working.

-Found the wiper switch disconnected, as it will not turn off with the key on, not sure if this can be cleaned or just replace it? What size-length of blades are/should be on this truck PO has 12 inch one that would work on my triumph but is no where near clearing enough of the windshield?

- A friend got tail gate fixed, and found a gas leak, So looks like bed is to come off or at least raised a few to get room to get to rubber fuel lines.
so what I'm seeing is
- 8 carrage bolts that hold bed to frame.
- 4 bolts/screws behind fuel doors.
- remove tail lights to drop wires there.

Am I missing anything?


Thanks again

Dan