I have a 1966 f100 that I recently restored I have been running it fine for about a month and last Friday it was real cold and I started it up just fine as usual it was very cold out and was getting ready to leave my house and I put it in reverse and the truck kept stalling and now the truck just kept running like crap now the truck refuses to start it will pop a little but while I am cranking it like it wants to run but will not go I can't figure out what is wrong it is getting gas and I believe the ignition has been converted from points I know it's getting spark because i can Herat it jumping when I staring it. When I start it cranks just fine and i also noticed the starter solinoid (fender mounted) is getting really hot and is smoking please help I have tried starting fluid also. I have never had this issue before it always starts in the winter no problem. I have gotten it to start one since then and it ran for about a minute and ran like junk and stalled. Please help- Ryan

 

You have partly answered your own question. You state that you can here the spark and that can ONLY mean that it is grounding out early and not actually firing the spark plug. Cranking it over in the dark with someone looking under the hood will easily pinpoint your bad spark plug wire or maybe the distributor cap itself. Excessive temperatures hot or cold will expose problems that "sit on the fence" during normal temperatures. I know this from the hvac trade that I am in and - 30 c or colder nothing works as well as it does around 0 c.

 

One thing to keep in mind, a healthy engine in good tune will start right away, in a split second.

Consequently all of the components of the starting system are made and sized just so, and no bigger, this saves a lot of weight and cost. The solenoid smoking is because they are not rated for continuous duty. The starter motor will smoke too if you keep cranking. Letting the smoke out if electrical innards can get expensive, and changing starters in the cold is no fun. Not trying to beat up on you, trying to save you money. The idea here is to prevent one problem from snowballing into three or four.

The battery should be put on a charger and charged to 100% after this torture test too. Let it cook overnight at 6 amps or so. Let the starter and solenoid rest for ten minutes or so after a couple attempts at starting, this is important.

Check the quality of the spark at a plug, it should not be red or orange. Even though engine pops off now and then, it may still be ignition related. That's the first thing to check for. Pull the distributor cap and look to see if points are still installed and let us know.

 

I just thought of carburetor icing as a possibly culprit. Do you have a heat riser coming off the exhaust?

 

It's difficult to read your post due to the lack of punctuation, misspelled words and run-on sentences. I fixed it for you so it'll be easier for us to read.

1965/67 F100/350 with 352 have a heat riser valve between the left (drivers side) exhaust manifold and the inlet pipe. But it may be stuck (rusted) in the wide open position.

If the starter solenoid is smoking, replace it. It's the same 1956/77 all FoMoCo vehicles (B6AZ-11450-A / Motorcraft SW-3)