This post is in reference to overheating of wires on the solenoid and positive battery terminal upon starting or attempting to start.

1975 F100 2wd

I cant post a pic so Ill ask in a succint (hopefully manner)

Solenoid.

Left side terminal to battery positive
Left side terminal to fusible link, to harness (Front)
Left Side (Yellow) to Wiring Harness (Rear)
Left side Terminal (Red Wire) to inside firewall..

"S" to Red wiring harness(Rear)
(I) to Brown wiring harness (rear)


Right terminal black wire to starter

Battery to ground to motor

No ground on starter, or engine to frame (This needs to be rectified I Know)
No heat shield on starter (yet)

All new: ign Module, solenoid, volt reg.

Heatup happens even if the vehicle is not hot and wires connected to solenoid begin to smoke and positive terminal cable to batt overheats.

Any input greatly appreciated.

 

this is probably your problem.

 

At least three should be a braided ground cable on the back of the intake going to the firewall.

Josh

 

I ran a ground from the block/head where the battery cable ground is, to the frame and it solved all of my problems.

 

I will be doing this tomorrow. Just havent gotten my round tuit yet .

Ill repost results as soon as I can.

 

Hiya folks. I added a ground wire as posted above. Unfortunately this has not resolved my issues.

On my 1975 f100 (stock) 2wd) Replaced:

Ign. Module
Coil
Volt. Reg
Solenoid (On the second new one now )

Edit:

Also removed and had starter checked. It checked out just fine.

The thing still overheats the wires on the positive side of the Solenoid. So much so that the last new solenoid I had to knock off the fender well it was overheating so badly!


If anyone could please be so kind as to post a close up pic of their Solenoid Setup, I would be forever greatful. That would be my best option I suppose at this point

 

if I'm understanding this correctly, the cable from the battery to the solenoid and the wires on the same terminal are getting hot?

the cable from the battery brings the current to the terminal but the other leads take current to other things such as the ignition switch and the charging circuit. I would try removing these temp, connect battery cable and see if the lead gets hot, then add one cable at a time to find out which causes the problem. don't forget to insulate the loose leads so they don't short out.

 

 

Thanks Fellas. It looks like this is all right. Ill be looking at replacing the ign. switch next I suppose. I havent found any shorts unfortunately.

Ths only thing I am not sure of in the pic (Thank you by the way very much) is the black wire with the blue shrink wrap on the ignition pole.

Could a small batter be causing any of this. Mine has like 527 CCA.

 

The blue shrink wrap wire is my "white" wire from the Duraspark module. My truck was originally equipped with points and I later converted to the Duraspark ignition system.

Some, well most guys attach the "white" wire to the "S" post of the solenoid when doing conversions.

Josh

 

Thanks Bullitt. Is this a difficult and/or expensive conversion and have the plus' been discussed elsewhere?
Thanks again.

 

Just need a duraspark distributor and module. Price depends on whether you go for the junkyard route or brand new from a parts house.

Possibly around $100 for both new.

Picture of the Motorcraft Duraspark module.




Josh

 

Not too difficult at all. Just need a module and Duraspark distributor. Depending on what route you go, whether used or new, would determine the cost. Possibly around $100 for all new.

Motorcraft Module



Duraspark wiring scheme



Josh

 

Odd, that is the exact ignition module in my truck I'm not sure Im lost on the details or not. I'll try to get more pics this would probably be the most helpful. I can do all the mechanics, electrical is obviously not my forte

 

Well Hi guys. I had a friends friend come over and look at the truck and he said it was wired correctly, aside form the solenoid allegedly "not working correctly" (In his opinion). I purchased another off the shelf solenoid and broke down the other day and went to Autozone and picked up a 772 CCA battery that was $34.00. She started up, no heat whatsoever. I've driven her a little bit and started cleaning her up. Got all the rust on the left fender wll cut out with my grinder/cutoff and applied bondo to that side. I'll likely be removing the original running boards and either leaving off or getting nice chrome aftermarket jobbies.


So, thanks for all of the assistance and insight and ill post updates as I get more done to her.

Next up, carb work!