79 F100 302/c6

Went to start the truck the other morning and it turned over just fine but didn't start *which is typical.* Pumped the gas and hit the key again and she's a dead key. Got out, wiggled the wires because we'd just changed the starter a couple weeks ago and I figured one of them didn't get tightened well enough. They all felt very tight. When I got back in, the interior lights and all other electrical was dead as well. We replaced the solenoid and she fired right up. Less than 5 days later, hit the starter and it got stuck. The engine fired off for a second then stopped running but the starter continued to turn incessantly. I was trying to get the wrenches and my hubby whacked the solenoid with a flashlight he had in his pocket and it stopped. Has anyone come across anything like this before? Is it a bad solenoid or what is the chance that there's something screwy happening in the system that's causing these odd things?

Also, I've got the solenoid with four screws on it. This new one, the "I" bolt that the boot goes on is too small and won't hold the boot. What is connected to this "I" bolt and is it necessary? Everything seems to be operating just fine w/o it. The lifetime warranty solenoid only had 3 screws so I ended up with the $11 four screw version and I'm wondering if in the future, or if this one goes out, if I can just cut the boot off and put a new end on it to connect this wire to the "S" boot.

Thanks in advance!

 

i had a similar problem years ago with my 78 f250. jump in the truck and nothing. had a friend come help me out but no luck so he towed me home. changed the solinoid and everything was good until a few hours later. the truck startef but the starter ran continuiusly. changed the solinoid again and every thing was fine.

 

I would recommend a higher quality solenoid rather than the cheapest one that is offered at the parts store.

The "I" terminal supplies the coil with power while cranking. So it needs to fit tight or replace the end with an eyelet.

Josh

 

"lifetime warranty solenoid only had 3 screws so I ended up with the $11 four screw version"

I wanted the highest quality solenoid but it had three bolts, not four so I had to go with the only one in the building that had four on it.

Then...... We didn't connect the "I" wire at all since the bolt was too small for the boot and the coil's getting fire because I've been driving it everyday since. I think I'm going to take this solenoid back and see about getting the lifetime warranty solenoid that only had 3 bolts and not worry about that "I" wire at all because it appears it's already been wired around somewhere else in the system since it's still getting fire. *shrug*

 

What is happening is your turning the engine over and as soon as you "think" it started and release the key to "ON or RUN" the coil then gets power thru the switch.

There are two circuits for the coil... STARTING and RUN. The starting circuit sends FULL voltage to the coil, RUN sends a resisted voltage while the engine is running.

With a newer Duraspark module you also have the added benefit from the "I" terminal of the module pulling a little initial advance out of the distributor to help the engine turn over easier.

With a 3-post solenoid you just connect the two small wires on the one SMALL post.

The 4-post just makes things easier to diagnose and also to help seperate the solenoid energizing wire and the ignition coil starting wire I would imagine.

Josh

 

When I release the key to the ON position, the starter stops spinning and so does the engine if it hasn't already fired. I don't see how the engine is going to catch and start running, especially when it's a hard cold start, after I release the key and the starter stops spinning the engine. That's just not what it sounds like when I hit the key. It's not turning and turning until I let go, it's turning till it fires and then I let go. I do start it in short bursts so as not to damage the starter by overheating it but it's not firing after I release the key like you're describing. It's firing and when I hear it I feather the throttle and get off the key. *shrug* Is there something else it could be?

 

The crank can still spin a little once the starter stops, especially if the battery, cables and start motor are in tip-top condition.

So, once the key is released and the spark is engaged the engine can catch and fire.

If the "I" wire isn't connected to the solenoid then the coil IS NOT getting voltage while starting, pretty simple.

Sounds like you start your truck like me wife starts our car, hits the key and keeps it going a moment after the rngine fires... it's like Why?

Josh

 

I don't know what kind of car you have but I thought you noticed that I have a 79 pickup. That makes the "why" in my case pretty simple. My truck doesn't start the first time every time after sitting for more than 8 hours. You turn key, engine turns over, fires so you get off the key because it may start and you don't want to be turning the starter while the engine is going or getting going. You're telling me you're magically able to get off the key a split second before it fires that first time? Damn, super powers must be AWESOME.

It's not like I hear it start and run and continue to turn the starter as well. It's a reaction and that slight delay is reaction time. I hear that first attempt to fire, get off the key, pump the pedal and hit it again if she didn't fire enough to catch her with the gas pedal and keep her going. Now I'm going to pay super close attention when I go out in this snow this morning to when it actually fires. If it fires while I'm turning the key, not as I'm letting off then I will come back and say so. Usually she gives one varoom the first time I turn her over and fires up the second time I hit the key after a second more or so.

I realize I don't know everything, but I pay attention to everything I can and I honestly don't feel like the way it starts jibes with what you're telling me. My question is more about the damn thing getting stuck and keeping the starter running incessantly and if that has NOTHING to do with the "I" terminal then the "I" terminal is a moot point anyway because it starts and runs just fine, except when the thing keeps the starter running.

 

It sounds like you have got a bad selonoid, but what he is trying to tell you is true the coil will get power without the I wire but a lot of the time the engine will not start as easy, and some will not fire until you release the key.

 

ok some will not fire until you release the key comes across completely differently than once the key is released and the spark is engaged the engine can catch and fire.

I paid reallllly close attention this morning and even intentionally held the key a second longer after it fired that first fire w/o ever releasing the key to engage the spark through the "I" wire. I will probably change to the lifetime warranty solenoid even though it's not the same setup. I just wanted to see if there was potentially something wrong with my system causing these problems or if I just got a bunk solenoid when replacing the first one.

Thanks!

 

This is exactly what happens when I start my truck. If I let off the key to the on position when I have cranked the motor over it fires right up. If I keep initially cranking the motor over it will not fire. Again when I let off the key to the on position, the motor fires and the engine starts up.

I have a brand new solonoid, the best one, from Napa. 2 screws to screw it to the fender wall, and 2 connections for the positive and negative leads, and the two other connections to the front of the solonoid. Did I get a bad solonoid, or is this normal? I could have gotten the cheaper solonoid, but I wanted the best one, and it costs twice as much. I did notice that one of the leads to the front of the solonoid did not fit back on real tight, just kinda hanging on but not moving off the stem. Front it sounds like, that might be the problem with my truck? How would I fix this if this is the case? In one of the posts from Bullit he mentioned replacing with an eyelit, but I sadly and very pathetically do not know what that is.

 

The eyelet is just another type of connector. It has a round hole that you can fit over the bolt and then tighten down with a nut similar to the ends of the positive to solenoid and solenoid to starter wires.

To use one, you just have to cut off the boot, strip the wire down a little ways, best guess about 3/8 inch and fit the little sleeve over the wires and crimp it down to put the eyelet connector on the end of that wire. *oh, and buy the eyelets :-) * The new solenoid probably had some extra nuts that you had to pull off to get the boot to go on so you just use one of those to tighten it on.

Or you can go with some southern engineering and cut off the boot, strip the wire about 1/2 inch and wrap it around the threads with the wire on the left side of the bolt going up over the top and around the right hand side so that when you tighten the nut it doesn't push the wire off. I'm probably going to go with the 3 post solenoid that has the warranty and put an eyelet on my wire so I can put it on the "S" post myself and just be done with the whole thing.