Ok, so the forum has been helping me a lot with diagnosing problems and working through solutions. I'm back for more.

I have fixed my ignition cylinder & ignition cylinder gear with how it matched up with the ignition actuator. That actuator inside the steering column is new too and functioning properly.

On the advice of a buddy who helped me with the cylinder gear issue, now I have also replaced my ignition switch. I still have my column apart so I can get to the mount for the switch.

I got it in and it worked. Twice. Now I get nada not even 2 minutes later. Nothing changed - just doesn't get any juice. I get nothing in the cab at all - on any ignition switch setting and/or ignition cylinder position.

The battery is known good - I just tested it. 12.63 on my meter.

The wires to the ignition switch are what I am currently paying attention to. They move inside the plastic housing but are still each firmly attached to the metal connector that is supposed to fit over the corresponding blade inside the switch. But I am concerned I am not getting solid contact from each connector to each blade because of this movement

What do I need to do inside the plastic housing that attaches all those connectors to keep them in place?

Also, I tried starting the truck via the starter solenoid as I had previously been shown to try. i.e. starting it with a screwdriver spanning the posts. Nothing.

Did I blow a fuse somewhere?

I can't fix the rest of the truck until I get the electrical sorted out again.

On a related (electrical) note - I am also in the process of fixing a melted plug that powers the heater & air conditioning controls. See https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post16586273 . I re-wired a replacement control in, but got nada on that as well.

And there are a couple extra plugs just hanging under the dash that you can see in that thread as well.

I am beginning to realize the electrical on this truck is borked. And that is precisely the system I loathe working on the most.

 

By connecting the posts on the solenoid with a screwdriver you are bypassing basically everything going from the battery into the cab of the truck AND bypassing everything inside the cab of the truck coming back out to the starter. WHAT I'M SAYING IS if the starter doesn't spin when you bridge the 2 large posts on the solenoid, look for a bad battery, bad starter, bad cables or a poor connection in that basic area of the starter.

One question here: Do any of the lights on the truck work? headlights? dome light?

 

I get no lights on the truck. No headlights, dome light, etc.

The battery IS good. Less than 3 mos old or so and meters well. I've made sure the terminal (which I have had off numerous times during my ignition work) was on & properly tightened.

Everything worked fine prior to messing with the ignition switch. I could start the truck by manually advancing the ignition switch with a screwdriver. That doesn't work now, either.

 

I would guess you got a dirty or loose connection. What commonly happens is the inside of the cables that hook onto the battery posts get dirty. I would start by cleaning those metal colored clean and also clean the outside of the battery posts, even though the battery is fairly new. Then make sure they tighten up properly.

I would start there. One test you could do if you have a test light, put one end on the positive battery post and then other end somewhere on the engine, the light should light.

 

Bad connection at the battery a bad connection between the cable and other bit or a bad cable

​​​​​​​all the power running through it while starting will burn wires and terminals when it's got a bad connection so it might be good one minute then you try to start it and get a click or nothing at all

 

also check the ground cable connections. . especially the one at the block. if that one is loose or dirty, you will think you have a dead battery.

 

Well, I tried hooking up my emergency battery starter last night to give the main battery some juice. It got a little that way. Enough that after disconnecting it, the spanning the solenoid sparked but was only once and didn't do it again.

Apparently the emergency starter was also fairly low on charge, so I got that charging up again and put the truck on a trickle charger overnight.

Today the truck roared to life on the first try. I can't explain it.

The battery metered 12.63 yesterday when I checked. Today under load it was about 15 and after the battery has started settling it's coming down off of 13.

If the ignition switch is just slightly off of its normal positions, how much power is pulled by that? That's the only thing I could think of that might have been wrong. I didn't change anything on the truck OTHER than making sure the battery got the trickle charge overnight. While I have been working on the switch, perhaps it just drained down due to being slightly in the wrong position?

Anyhoo - glad to see it work. Will test it over the next few days to make sure it is not draining crazy fast.

 

The switch being in the wrong position shouldn't drain the battery unless you see what normally happens when you turn the switch on, ie dash lights come on gauges move etc.

You can check for excess current draw with a test light. Remove the negative battery cable from the battery post, put one end of the test light on the negative battery post and the other end on the disconnected cable. If the test light lights you have excess current draw. You can perform the same test with a multimeter but I don't know the numbers.

 

The truck starts right up. Don't know what drained the battery previously. I'll keep an eye on it.

 

Had a newly installed part break on me. The toothed gear that mates up with the ignition cylinder gear sheared. At least it was warranted by the parts store.

Had gotten sick of fixing the same thing and needed to learn how to replace the power steering pump so I paid a mechanic friend to teach me. He got everything back together nicely, but the same problem cropped up the day after he was done.

Turned the key and nada. It had run the day he was here - had everything fixed up nice and drove it back to the parts store to return the tool we borrowed. It was running great, then next day back to its 1989 antics.

My friend is coming back tomorrow to see what's gone awry. I hadn't driven it since coming back from the auto parts place - was trying to fire it up to go get inspected & registered.

Definitely looking forward to understanding what is going wrong with it.