The only wires I replaced were the ones which went from the switch to the coil and from the coil to the dist. cap. The rest I didn't mess with yet. I had the switch out and it looks fine, it was just replaced recently and is less than a year old. I had it turning over fine, and when I replaced those 2 wires it acts like a dead switch...

From looking at the shop manual it looks like there is a wire which runs from the switch-coil wire to the relay... I tried looking where this was hooked up and couldn't find it, which is wierd because it was working awhile back with it setup like it is, now it's not.

 

Their should be a wire from the ign switch to a resister and then to the coil. And also their shoule be a wire that runs from the starter solenoid (marked r) to the plus side of the coil. That I think is a brown wire.

 

Ok, yeah there is a wire from the ignition switch to a resistor mounted on the firewall, then runs to the + side of the coil.

There is no wire from the relay to the coil right now... I will look for the "R"

which prong is it on?... if the relay looks like this - ' ' - if you catch my drift, with the first dash pointed towards the front and the two ' marks facing the engine and the other - facing the firewall.

 

Aren't these old Folds fun? I have heard many a time on the forum that it is extremely important to make sure that you have a good ground for everything to work. Take some time to clean the battery terminals and take the started out and sand the surfaces that make contact the block and do the same with the ground cable conected to the block. In general follow the path the electricity has to flow and make sure that all connection points are clean. These older trucks need to have that done from time to time. I worked on an old Cadillac once that showed the same characteristics and I went though it all and it came alive. As previously stated you can place a wire to the positive side of the battery and go to the positive side of the coil. Take and jump the proper posts on the solenoid and try to start the truck. If the engine turns over you would at least know that the starter is wired properly and if it starts you would know that the coil and distributor function. Don't leave the jumper wire on for an extended period of time though, it may cause the point to burn or it could take out the coil. When you shut of the engine and it stop at a point where the points are closed it will send voltage to the coil the coil will get hot and possibly blow up. We did it in shop class one time when I was in high school. It got our attention. Good luck with the projecy.

Gear Up

 

Ok, - is pos from the battery, ' is labeled s it should be hooked to st on the ign switch,
' is labled r that should run directly to the pos side of the coil, - to the starter.
The way it works when you start the truck the ign switch sends current to the s term of the starter solenoid it closes a switch and sends the current to the starter and to the ign coil.(for a hoter spark durning start up) When the key returns to the run pos it stops the current to the solenoid then sends current to the resester and then to the coil.

 

Thanks for the explanation... right now there is nothing hooked up to the relay besides the power from the battery and of course the starter, but sounds like I need to just rewire the ignition switch, the P.O. had it all spliced and it's hard to trace wires right now, so i'm just going to try and rewire it tomorrow and hope it works, have 2 days to get the truck moved.

Thanks again!

 

That's a pretty good explanation by 57. A short-cut to get it to crank is to jump the relay with a screwdriver.(from the batt term to the small term closest to it) It also sounds like you have a points issue. They may be burnt or not opening enough. Do you have access to a dwell meter?

 

no I don't... I'm going to go work on it a bit right now and see what gives.

 

O.K. You can get by without one. Lets go one step at a time and get it cranking again first. You need a wire that has power when the key is in start position at the relay. Should be one that runs with headlight harness.

 

OK, rewired the relay to the ignition and to the coil, and got it turning over now... I checked the coil and I am getting a spark, but may not be getting a spark from the dist. to the plugs... the condenser was mentioned a couple of times, could this be it? The rotor turns freely and is clean, looks fairly new, along with the dist. cap.

 

Success! Cranked it over a few more times and she fired right up! Need to adjust the carb a bit, but other than that she's running strong!

Although, while I was just adjusting the carb, she died, and the battery is dead now too. I think the gen. isn't recharging the battery... guess some more rewiring is in order!

 

Pull a plug and reinstall the wire to it. Turn the engine over and see if the plug sparks. If so, you have juice to the plugs. If not, you will have to backtrack to the distributor.

You say the rotor turns freely, do you mean by hand or when you crank it with the distributor cap off? It shouldn't turn freely by hand. Also, could there be a mismatch between the rotor and cap - as in one being a wrong part?

 

The rotor doesn't move freely by hand, only when turning on the ignition. I had it running a few hours ago, now it won't start up for anything...

 

Don't give up, step back and take a break, If it ran before it will run again.

 

Man, I got lost on this. Didn't get any updates in my mail and the times seem screwed up to me. After your break check to see if you still have your spark. The battery running down shouldn't be a problem if you just want to move it. If you can charge it up it should last thru a move.Why is it that you had to adjust the carb (wondering if maybe it flooded after sitting so long) Like a stuck float.