Okay, here's the deal. After sitting in my driveway since last July, I finally got all the pieces together to make my truck whole again. I can't get the thing to start though. The bigger issue here is that I'm not sure if I hooked up one wire not quite right. Memories get fuzzy after 9 months or so.

There is a black ground wire that runs from the valve cover on the engine and I have it bolted to the body behind the starter solenoid at the other end. After a good cranking spell (30 seconds or so) this wire gets so hot that it starts smoking. This is a bad thing best I can tell. Is there somewhere else it should connect? All of my guages, lights, signals and hazards all work fine ... starter turns over fine ... but this smoking wire has me very worried! Do I have it connected wrong or is there maybe a bigger issue I don't know about yet.

On a related note, any tips on getting this ol' girl to run again after sitting so long? If I really pump the $#!% out of the gas pedal it sounds briefly like it's going to start, but then promptly dies. Does the fuel system just need to get primed up again? Even pouring a little shot of gas down the carb only gets me a brief hint of fire in the cylinders. I really want to drive my truck again! Any advice would be muchly appreciated.

Chris.
:-X11

 

make sure you have gas in the enigne. trust me. it might sound stupid but my bud had a similar problem. he had no gas in the engine

pour a little gas down the carb. make sure all your plugs/wires/disturbutor are ok and firing right.

i don't know about the wire tho

 

>There is a black ground wire that runs from the valve cover
>on the engine and I have it bolted to the body behind the
>starter solenoid at the other end. After a good cranking
>spell (30 seconds or so) this wire gets so hot that it
>starts smoking. This is a bad thing best I can
>tell. Is there somewhere else it should connect?

As an electrician I have to tell you that what you are describing would be a high resistance connection or a direct short. It also sounds like it should be running from the valve cover to ground. When you engauge the key to start it sounds like you are directly shorting the battery to the engine, which is like shorting a wire in your house. Big sparkies and lots of smoke. make sure you have your wires from your starter are hooked up right. Also double check your engine grounding system to the body. Check the condition of the wire, make sure it's not cracked, or corroded. It may even be best to just replace it all together.

Don't crank it until you have the problems solved. Together they sound like an accident waiting to happen. I would hate to get a post back saying the battery exploded, or the truck caught fire and burned to the ground

-Kerry

 

That ground wire should run from a boss on the drivers side of the block, and be bolted to the cab. On my 82, it's a seperate bolt beside where the throttle cable bolts up. That cable is there to ground the truck. The ground from the battery should go to the lower starter bolt, or at least be bolted to the block somewhere. It sounds to me like you're using that small ground to ground the engine, it's just too light for that.
1982 F100 SWB
300 HD, 9.5:1 compression
Clifford 270H, Hedman Hedder
2½" duals w/ turbos
NP 435
160,000 miles1985 F150 HD, 300 HD
70,000 miles
1980 F100 Custom, 300/Np 435
60,000 miles