I just purchased a project, 1978 Ford Bronco that has a 351m. As I am in the process of flushing the cooling system, I went to shut the truck off after running it 5 minutes and the key would not shut it off. I pulled the key, still running and gauges are doing nothing, I put the key back in, twitch it back and forth, still nothing. Then I turn the key over and the engine shuts off. I did notice once I turned the key over, there was a click as the engine shut off. Now, I get no power to guages, radio, headlights and nothing to the starter. Tested the battery, shows good. I haven’t done anything electrical to it yet. There was a new starter put on it the day I drove it home. Does anyone have any advice? I was planning on changing the starter solenoid to see if that would work.

 

Assuming your battery isn't dead: What I would do first is check your battery connections and clean them up good and tighten them down good. My 85 Bronco has been the biggest pest of failing to start from this. Also, check your connections at the solenoid. (You can try the old short across the terminal here. Make sure it's not in gear first) If that is all good but doesn't work, check your ground cable connections next. Again, make sure they have a good clean connection. Then, from what you just described, it sounds like it's time for a new ignition switch. The lights are on a separate circuit from the starter. If they don't work, it's usually one of the major connections off the battery. Hopefully, this will get you started. Best of luck

 

Thank you for the response. I ended up replacing the starter solenoid, cleaned the battery post and put new battery cables. After all of that it fired right up. I do think it was a combination of everything. The negative/ground cable was just sitting on the post,even with it tightened all the way, it still was pretty easy to slip on and off. The post were some what corroded. Luckily, it was an easy fix. On to the next project.