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Hi all. I went out to my 79 f250 With a 351m this morning, hopped in, pumped the skinny pedal, turned the key and.....buzz. Buzz? What the hell? Battery must be dead. Nope. Huh. Off to advance auto for a starter. Put the new starter in and... Nothing. What the hell? No lights, no fan, no radio, and certainly no start. I had tried the old starter right before pulling it and I got a buzz again. I checked the battery with a volt meter. 12.44vdc. Long story short, I had a short somewhere at the starter solonoid. I pulled everything off of the battery side and tested continuity to ground. There is a black wire with an orange stripe Connected to the battery side of the solonoid that is going to ground somewhere. Any idea what it goes to and why it might be shorted out?
IIRC i had the same problem, its a fusible link that powers to your cigarette lighter and it could be blown, or shorted out somewhere. But i dont remember sorry
Well, it sure looks orange, but I guess it could be red. The harness is a little hobgobbled by the previous owner. I do know that the wire comes off of the battery side of the solonoid and goes back into the wiring harness and enters the cab through a grommet under the passenger side windshield wiper. From there I haven't got a clue. It doesn't have a cigarette lighter. I just can't figure out why NOTHING works. I'd think the lights would at least be on but dim.
Ok. I had the battery checked and it's fine. I looked at the above diagram. I have a switch with two Alligator clips that I used to try the solonoid by going from the battery side lug to the starter lug on the solonoid instead of the small lug. Could that have blown something? The wire that is apparently grounded (I can use a continuity tester and get a beep when I go one lead to the wire and one lead to chassis ground) is black with an orange stripe. It's orange even under the tape, so i dont think it's faded. Could this go to my ignition switch, and if it does, would it kill my lights and everything if it was disconnected from a constant 12vdc? Does everything run through that keyed switch?
To me sounds like a cheap hard to find fix lol. electrics .. BAHHH curse it. double check all fuse's make sure battery terminals are clean as a whistle and the leeds are clean as-well. What about his brain box? (ignition box) on the .. probably passenger side fender. (3 or 4 inches square) other then that