Somebody help, the other day I had a piece of metal slip off the inner fender and hit the starter solenoid, next thing I know the wiring harness connected to the fire wall started smoking. Only the one of the wires in the harness, one of the ones that's connected to the solenoid, was completley melted. Of course the truck wouldn't start, so I've replaced the harness with a good one from another truck, but the thing still won't crank. I have no power going to anything under the dash, no head lights, no interior lights, nothing. I've replaced the solenoid already, looked for any burnt wired under the dash, but haven't seen anything. Anybody out there point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

Daniel

 

Did you replace the solenoid as well? You might also check the wiring going to the altenator and voltage regulator.

 

I replaced the solenoid, checked the wiring going to the voltage reg. it all looked good, even replaced the voltage reg.

 

Did you check the fuses and the fusiable link?

 

Fuses were all good, but what do you mean by the fusiable link?

 

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1st of all what year Slick are you talking about?

They aren't all the same. So unless the replacement harness you say you installed came from the same year & model as the one you "smoked" it's not necessarily going to "plug & Play" for you.

2nd, if I understand what you wrote, correctly what you're telling us makes no sense. Metal touched a starter solenoid main terminal and cooked a power lead to Ignition or fuse block, to paraphrase your statement, right . . . . ?

Because current flows to fuse block & ignition from solenoid terminal, not from them to solenoid terminal there is no way such a thing could happen if vehicle was originally [OEM Style] or correctlly, modified style, wired.

Current flows from battery to main terminal on solenoid, then to fuse block & ignition switch. Therefore battery lead should have suffered overload, not a secondary circuit going from main distribution terminal into rest of vehicle. Power source is the battery.

Would you clarify that please?

FBp

 

The system works basicly like this. voltage goes from the battery to a lug ( big one) on the Starter solenoid then back to the main block under the dash with all the fuse's like a distro box. on the other side of the solenoid is a lug ( big one )that goes to the starter. on the solenoid their are also 2 smaller lugs one goes to the ing switch so that when you turn the key voltage is sent to that lug and the solenoid is activated directing voltage from the battery to the starter. Their may be a secondary small lug in the solenoid and this is a 12V direct line to the ing coil ( only on some systems ) to provide a little boost in voltage to the coil for hotter spark for starting. on the battery side of the solenoid is a main wire that comes from the alt to recharge the battery after the engine is running.so if you have nothing I would start by checking if you have voltage on the big wire from the bat to the sol, then voltage back to the fuse box. you can bypass this to check the starter by using a starter button and apply voltage to the start lug ( small one ) of the solenoid from the battery. if the starter spins over ( make sure you are not in gear ) then the sol is ok. if the starter doesnt work you may have a bad sol. ( look like you already replaced this but you should check it anyways )
If you get nothing (lights , dash ect, you may have burnt the wireing going to the main voltage line going to the dash, their is on some of the early trucks a Amp meeter in the dash that also runs the main voltage behind the dash.
if it's a 64 -66 PM my and I will e-mail you a Scematic. It's pretty simple system realy but can be time consuming to trace down.

 

If you don't mind could you e-mail me that wiring diagram for the 66, still trying to trace down that short. Thanks for your help.

Daniel Garvey
garvster72@yahoo.com