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The only way to get the truck to turn over is to jump the starter solinoid.But the starter stays engaged.Take away the screw drive and nothing.This is on a 1978 F150 4x4 351 auto.
Thanks for any help
Could be your neutral safety switch. The voltage runs from the keyswitch start position, through the neutral safety switch mounted on the driver's side of the tranny, to the starter relay.
You should have a red/blue stripe wire on the starter solenoid. If you jump this to the battery, it should crank. That means the starter solenoid is good(this is probably the screwdriver trick you have been doing).
If you look on the side of the tranny, you should see some wires going in right near the shifter lever. If there are 4 wires, two of them will be the back-up lights, and two of them should be the same color as the one on the solenoid(red/blue stripe). If you unplug the plug, and put a jumper between the two red/blue stripe wires coming from the harness, this will bypass the neutral safety and you can see if it will crank.