Sooooo…
I’ve done a ton of work on my 1970 F250 and it’s been running like a dream. Until the final shakedown run before it was deemed roadworthy.

Recent electrical:
pertronix conversion
new coil
new solenoid
new starter
all new cables
ICVR
Retro auto sound radio (powered from fuse block)

went to start it and the truck would start then die immediately. I got it to fire by dumb luck, then moved it into the shop. Tried to restart and it would start/die start/die start/die. I was puzzled.

I thought, well perhaps the thing got flooded so I have it a few seconds cranking and the starter stayed engaged. It was sort of running and the starter was on full rip at the same time.

I disconnected the battery and let everything settle for an hour. Went back and reconnected the battery, she started right up. Turned it off and the truck kept running with the key out.

turned the key all the way to auxiliary and the dash lights came on! Wth?

had to go disconnect everything from the solenoid to shut it off.

I thought, certainly this is the switch.. so I replaced it with a standard motors switch. Went around and hooked up the battery and noticed one big thing that it was doing during all these shenanigans.. I can hear the points loudly go BING in the voltage regulator as soon as I connect the battery. To be clear, it did NOT do this prior to start and die issue.

I walk back to the cab and the dash is smoking, the main harness that runs across behind the gauge cluster AND the harness going to the ignition switch is hot to the touch.

I run around and disconnect the battery, I figure well dang, maybe this new standard switch is bad? I order a Motorcraft switch, install it and the same issues. Crank, start, die. Harness getting hot pretty quick.

so my question is, is there any chance the regulator is the culprit or is the ping of the points reactive to a short? And where the heck is the short if there is one?! It was fine, this happened all of the sudden.

 

Right off the top of my head is you wired something wrong
Easy to do after all the changes you did . Re-check all wiring & re-read Pertronox instructions . What did you do with the ballast resistor or pink/white resistance wire ?

 

Is there more he is not telling us as I dont see anything about "all the changes or Pertronox" being done other than a radio off the fuse panel.

First I would not try anything more with battery hooked up till you do some checking if the harness where the smoke came from.
At this point you could have a bunch of wires melted together and shorting out to each other. If that is the case you will never figure out what it going on.
Open up the harness to make sure all is ok before moving on.

What else was done to the truck so we know what we are looking at?
Did you replace the starter solenoid / relay? If so go buy a new one and make sure it is top of the line as the cheap ones are known to short out and keep the starter engauged with motor running. I am running a NAPA top of the line solenoid for the last 4 years NP.
Dave ----

 

Sounds like the solenoid wires are switched.

 

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**** UPDATE

So.. installed new Motorcraft switch. Same no-start issue and harness getting hot. did some more investigating by tracing the wiring from the coil.. was now getting 6.9V @ the coil with the key on, better than previous .20V… the OTHER change was that I noticed the electronic choke was being powered off the hot side of the coil so I unplugged it before starting.

That power source for the choke is more than likely the culprit of my wiring heating up and then getting a no-start. Or, maybe it was a combo of the choke drawing big power and overheating the switch that caused my woes. In the process of rewiring choke power source, new switch is in.. we will see what happens.

So now.. now to wonder if I need and/or what resistance wire do I need for the coil? This one isn’t burnt (somehow) and seems ok but still warms up about 15 degrees warmer than the adjacent wires… resistance=heat so it’s probably normal, but freaks me out now.. I don’t want this to be my second Bump that has an ignition switch dash fire.

Thanks for the suggestions. This was seemingly easy to trace. Just a bit concerned about that pink wire of doom.

 

solenoid wires are correct. Truck went from running perfect to this within a 30 minute period.

 

you’re right on the money with parts choice. I only run Napa’s top of the line solenoids. The rest are junk and end up getting stuck.

I think I discovered my problem. I replied to the thread with an update.

thanks for the input. 👍

 

I installed a Pertronix Ignitor II distributor & coil . Did you install the Ignitor in your distributor or a complete Pertronix dist. ???
You can keep the pinkl/white by installing a relay . Or you do not use the wire . Now if you just did the module then wiring may b different . Mine had good instructions.

Oh I see u found the problem but I do not see an answer