Hello everyone, new to the group. I've wanted a highboy all my life and finally pulled the trigger and bought one. It's been awhile since I've wrenched on one of these, had a 78 bronco which was similar. So here's the deal...

76 true highboy
390. 4 speed NP 205 case
True dual out in front of rear tires
Aluminum radiator
Riding on 37s

Picked up last night and drove it 3 hours in 70 degree weather and strong as hell on the high way. And good lord she's loud!! So she clearly needs some work.. I have to start it with a screwdriver on sylinoid .. Doesn't matter if key is on or off and to kill the motor I have to disconnect battery?? You would think that would not kill motor as the alternator is used after the battery starts it. Battery is brand new. Sylinoid is brand new also. Coil and wiring attached is a mess. So what are the thoughts out there? Need new coil? New ignition switch at the key? What would cause it to die just because battery cable was removed??

Thank in advance, many more silly questions to come.

Chris

 

I would bet the Alt is not working if all is wired
right. But that sounds kinda iffy in this case.
First make sure the alt is putting out and she is
not just running off the battery. Do you own a
multimeter or something like it?

 

Hey arctic, my dad does when I get back from a trip next week we are gonna check with the multimeter. I thought the same thing but driving it 3 hours yesterday in the heat the battery would have for sure died if Alternotor was dead. This morning she started right up... ?

 

Even new solenoids can be sticky. I' d replace it. Then keep it as a spare.if it doesn't fix.it because a spare is good to have anyways.

Then the ignition switch would become the next suspect.

 

i'd like to see pictures of the wiring...most of the advice given on this forum is good so long as the wiring hasn't been obliterated and tweaker'ed. at that point, all bets are off obviously.

 

Hey sooper I can send pics when I get off tonight. Private message me your cell or email to send to thx.

 

It would be better host to photobucket or supermotors so everyone can see them.

 

The trigger wire may be to blame. It's the small wire to the front of the solenoid. Some universal solenoids may have 2 large posts and two small posts. One of the small posts has an "I" on it. Check that and solenoids are cheap. If the battery is charging (you will know after you test it) and the solenoid clicks, then, I'd suspect the ignition switch. Those are cheap as well.


I ran into my share of electrical problems in my 77. Don't get frustrated, just trouble shoot it as best you can. Remember if you go switching a bunch of stuff at once, it makes the troubleshooting more difficult. One thing at a time, then move to the next.


Pictures help the guys out here. A pic is worth a thousand posts sometimes.

 

Thanks guys I will figure out how to get pics up on here tonight.

 

Of the two small terminals, the "S" terminal is the one that engages the solenoid. The "I" terminal supplies 12V to the coil during cranking (bypassing the resistor wire from the ignition switch), but is only active while the solenoid is active.

Is the starter constantly cranking too? If so, a stuck solenoid backfeeding the ignition system from the I terminal even if the switch is off makes sense.

 

If it doesn't start with the switch, start at the beginning. Go buy a test light. Verify you have a starter signal coming out of the ignition switch. Probe around the back of the switch. The signal wire will only have power in the "start" position. If you have battery there, go out and probe the wire going to the solenoid. If you have power there, the solenoid is bad. If you don't have power out there, then you need to trace the wire back and find out where it's broken.

Troubleshoot, diagnose, verify the problem, THEN replace the bad component. There's no way to kill motivation faster than throw money at something and hope something wonderful happens. Find the problem, then fix it.

 

we need pics of this beast! please!!

 

Yeah what he ^^^^ said. We need to see it or it didn't happen.

 

You guys are amazing. Didn't have time to get out there after work I have a flight to Vegas in an hour.. I'm back Sunday and wil be digging into everything. I litterally picked her up last night drove 3 hours home went to work and then flying out. KILLING ME, right now I just wanna start wrenching on her. Umm how do you load pics on here. I loaded one on my profile but couldn't add it on the thread..

 

I agree with Alan's general approach, though I'd suggest a digital multimeter rather than a test light - far more useful, and these days pretty inexpensive.


As for posting pics, if the yellow square icon with mountains on it isn't letting you upload pictures directly yet (there's some minimum post count, it seems, though I don't know what), you can host them externally (Photobucket, OneDrive, Facebook, etc.) and embed them here using the IMG tag.