So a little background.

I got the truck starting back in Fall (after lots of starting problems and learning about these old things) and then I went away to college and my sister has been driving it throughout this school year.

It stopped working about a month ago so I got home and tried to start it up and observed a clicking noise and kind of a bell sound. Sounded like it was coming from around the starter solenoid.

A few guys who took a look thought it was the solenoid as well; the headlights nor the horn works.

Any help would be appreciated; obviously it seems like there is a problem with the circuit.

Thanks, Maxwell.

 

The battery is low or dead! Charging system not charging/left lights on?

 

Yep sounds like the battery, the solenoid will click when the battery is to low.

 

Still got the 6 volt electrical system in it? Generator?

Read this thread if you missed it two weeks ago - Specifically, read post #10.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...o-12-volt.html

If you have a 12 volt system on it with a generator read post #10 a second time, then post #18.

 

It's a 12 volt system with a generator. I'll check out that post in a second but I also want to say that I tested the charge on the battery and it's above 12 volts which would mean that there would be enough charge to start? Correct?

 

It's possible to show 12 volts, but have other conditions so the amperage needed to turn the starter isn't there. The first thing to do, then, would be to check and clean the battery cables. Remove them from the battery posts, clean them with a wire brush to remove all acid build up and corrosion, put it back together and try it again. Start with that and let us know how that works.

 

Thanks, will do, it may be a while but hopefully I'll update everyone!

 

Edit Note: I was typing while Merc wrote the respopnse above and he is correct.

But with regard to what you were saying about voltage, no that's not correct. I'll try and explain.

Voltage is an indicator of charging system "health" not "volume." With an alternator you can think "volts" with a generator you have to watch "amps."

When something uses electricity, it has a requirement. The electricity is used to perform the work and is converted to heat. Thus the amount of work required - and subsequent amount of electricity converted to heat - is measured in watts.

Now in order to provide that wattage - the amount of power needed to do the work - electricity flows in a given amount (amperage) and pressure (voltage) just like water.

And for any given power requirement (in watts), the amount of work required is cut in half for a given amount (amps) if you double the pressure (volts). And how do you increase pressure (voltage) with a FIXED amount (amps) of power - you inflict resistance (ohms) on the circuit.

Here's a practical example:

Lets say you need to clean some oil off the driveway and you are going to use the garden hose. You turn the faucet on all the way, but the water just kind of blubs out - too soft to remove the oil. So what do you do - you put a nozzle on the hose that makes the water shoot out harder and it cleans the oil off the driveway. You aren't using any more water than you were with the nozzle off the hose, it worked because you added some resistance (the smaller opening in the nozzle) and the same amount of water came out harder and did the work required.

In this example Amperage is the amount of water the faucet let through into the hose; the resistance (ohms) was provided by the reduced opening on the nozzle; the increased Voltage was the pressure of the water after it went through the nozzle, to fulfill the work requirement (wattage) needed to clean the oil off the driveway.

Ok so now that you are completely confused or about to write me back and tell me I shouldn't be playing with the hose around electricity, let me throw one more concept at you. That is that the formula works in reverse as well.

Let's say you live out in the country and you house water is on a well. You have a pump (generator) that brings up the well water directly, and a big storage tank (battery) up hill to store more water.

Now while you are trying to wash the driveway, the pump will just not give you enough water to shoot that oil off no matter how much you close off the nozzel. The pump is regulated to deliver at a given pressure at full volume. But you don't have enough volume. So, you turn a valve and the water from the uphill tank starts flowing (it is also pressure regulated by pipe size but will flow out lots of water - until it's empty) and you finally have enough water, at the right pressure to clean the driveway. Point: Amount and Pressure are both required to do the work.

Ie: if you don't have large enough amount of water (low amperage) - say you then you don't have what it takes to clean the oil off, no matter how much you tighten up that nozzle and how hard that little spray is (set voltage) - the tank water was needed to help do the work.

Only difference between electricity and water is water pushes, electricity pulls.

How is this applicable to your situation:

In a truck using a generator, that generator has to turn at 1000 rpm to produce enough (amount/amperage) electricity to just run the truck - truck idles at 700. It's still producing the electricity (amount - like the water pump) at the right voltage (pressure) there just isn't enough of it (amps) to do the work. And the extra amount comes from the battery (water tank in our example).

While driving the RPM is high enough to allow the generator to produce the amount that is needed and recharge the battery for the very small amount of electricity used by the ignition at idle. But while at idle or below 1000 rpm it doesn't. If you use the lights electric heater, electric wipers, electric fuel pump, radio (and new radios pull watts), the work required is increased and the defecit that the generator is not able to provide (which has to now turn at 1500 rpm to make ends meet) is increased, thus draining the battery faster - but not recharging it any faster at rpm because of the voltage regulator limits. It will run the accessories at 1500 rpm without discharging any further, but the battery gets drained every time you go below that and does not "catch up" with the charge as fast as it is discharging. You do that long enough and the battery eventually goes dead (ie the water tank is drained). That will take about 10 engine hours.

What to do. If you keep the generator, you can convert it to high output by changing the pulley on the front to something smaller (the high output generators you can buy are configured this way) or you can limit electrical use while driving (as the caution I quoted in the other post reflects), or convert to an alternator which continues to produce adequate volume at low rpms. (there's one other way - installing wiring and a switch to bypass the regulator to provide full [40] amps at 1100 rpm for a quick charge; but I'm not going to tell you how to do that because if not done correctly it can cause a battery fire of explosion)

You may want to preform the voltage regulator test to ensure the regulator is still good. But I think it will probably come up ok too. Probably nothing wrong with the equipment, it just wasn't designed to be used with, or has the capacity to support, the type of driving your sister does (Girls!)

Sorry you asked huh?

 

I'm the sister. ...and I don't think I drive it too recklessly. But anyways, thank you for all your advice! I think I followed your comment for the most part, at least I hope I did. Besides converting to a high output generator, simply purchasing a new battery would not fix/help the problem would it? My apologies for my lack of knowledge on the subject. :/

 

Yes it would, ……..maybe, ……….if the battery is defective replacing it will solve that problem, if it is a charging problem it will be a temporary fix. If you replace the battery and it doesn’t help, then that is expensive process of elimination but you now know that the battery is not the problem. It’s little like fishing with hand grenades, a little random.

 

No need to apologize for a lack of knowledge. We all started out needing to learn something. What brings us together is a willingness to learn, and a willingness to help.
I got the feeling you and your brother didn't have a lot of experience with these types of situations, which is why I started you all off with the simple stuff, cleaning the battery cables. It doesn't get much more basic than that, and is something easy to do, even for the most novice of us. If after following my above directions, it didn't change anything, we could go on to the next step in helping diagnose your problem, and try not to spend your money in unecessary places. Did you clean the cables yet? Did you try to see if it helped?

 

Outsranding explanation there Julie. I think I may almost understand this electrical stuff now. Very helpful..So what you are saying is," never sit on a wet battery??????"

 

Tee hee - didn' t mean to imply that at all - either driving wrecklessly (which has nothing to do with my comment) or electrical knowledge. The reason I know this is because on my 55 F-100 I had a 289 with a 12 volt generator and it did the same thing - about every two weeks I found myself out there with the jumper cables. I bought two new batteries, two new regulators, and replaced the generator.

As Merc mentioned there are steps that you should take in a certain order from simple to traumatic as the problem persists. First is cleaning the battery posts and cables - making sure the cables are not corroded up inside the insulation as well. Check the battery water level (if it's that kind of battery) at that time too.

If that doesn't do it it's time to perform the charging system checks in the trouble shooting portion of the shop manual and replace what ever may be causing the problem - if there is anything - and that includes testing the battery - could just be shot.

Something that people today don't realize - especially younger people, is that the trucks in the 50s were built and sold with the philosophy that it was a tool - a piece of machinery - to be used and operated in a fashion that required you to know the vehicle and how to operate it properly. Nothing was automatic and there were no warning labels. Attitude was "if you don't know how to operate this truck properly, then learn, or stay out of it." And that's reflected in the comment I quoted from the shop manual.

Your talking about a vehicle that did not have back up lights. It didn't come with turn signals. Unless you had the "Extra" cab, it didn't have a passenger side tail light or windshield wiper. As a matter of fact the back bumper was an option, as was a heater. So it's electrical system was designed to run the engine and the few lights it had - and that's all.

Hopefully, now you realize that if you drive around with the lights, heater or radio on for an extended period of time it may drain the battery, and eventually kill it - which I doubt you knew before. You may also have an electrical equipment problem as well. And I'm hoping that with the explanation I wrote if you test it or have it tested, you will be familiar enough with the system and the requirements to know what's right or wrong - especially if you take it somehwere to have it tested (like if the guy tells you your generator output is low you will ask him at what RPM he checked it "Idle?" - then tell him to go back and check it correctly at 1100 rpm).

I never did find the problem with the 55 by the way - sold it because of it. Reason, there wasn't anything "wrong' with the system - it was operating exactly the way it was designed to. I just used too much electricity - exceeded current system capabilities. And I learned that much later.

 

You really need to test the load of the battery. any auto parts store will do that for free(at least around my area) or you can buy a load tester $25 bucks at harbor freight is where I got mine. after you know the battery is good then clean/check terminals as aformentioned. I always check and clean the ground wire connections on the frame as well. a poor ground will also display the symptoms you are having.

my 2cents
Shane

 

Thank you everyone, I am going to go back what everyone has said and try a few suggestions in the coming days and I'm sure something will work out. You all have been so supportive in everything that I have done and you have no idea how much I appreciate that.