My 78 ranger CS special 4x4 429/c6 is giving me problems. It is my DD and I can no longer use it until this is figured out.

It has a holley auto choke carb. When the engine is stone cold one whack of the throttle and it starts instantly! It runs great. When I shut it off after a 10 minute heat soak, It cranks as if the battery is dead. And will not start until it is stone cold again.

FWIW when I bought this truck it had two batteries in it. It also had one of those hotrod summit starters that has the reduction gear and the "clockable" mounting flange. I didnt know the starter was what it was until I pulled it.
The truck has on occasion over the last 2 years has showed the same signs, but had always kicked over. Once several months ago I was unable to to get it started. I yanked out the second battery that was weaker than the other and all had been fine as it was until last week. I pulled the starter and replaced it.

I re-created the no start condition in the drive. I swapped to another good battery and that did not help. I changed to a heavier POS battery cable, that didnt help. The NEG cable had no sign it was over heated due to excessive resistance.
I am currently out of work and looking at the prospect of traveling away from home to help make ends meet!

I need this sorted out. Thanks for the help Todd

 

Is the (-) neg cable attached to the block? If not that could be the problem. Be sure all battery connections are clean and tight. Normally the ground is attached to the block right behind the alternator.
Do you have headers? These can also cause a "heat soak" condition.

 

Funny, I just checked that neg. bolt on the block on mine the other day chasing a different prob. and found it to be sloppy in the hole...

I have headers so I tried heat wrapping my o.e.m. sized starter to try and avoid that situation. It didn't work for me.. If you have headers the o.e.m. size starter is way to close to the pipes, I ended up going to a mini starter with the heat wrap, for more clearance.. Never had that condition again.. The starting prob. may also be the solenoid itself, cheap, easy, and quick to change out.

 

Th eneg cable is attached to the front of a bracket that holds the alt. It has a transplanted 429 and likely the wrong bracket. It all works, but I will look and see if i can located a threaded boss that I can bolt the cable to. No headers, stock manifolds.

Thanks

 

This could be your problem. Try and find a good connection DIRECTLY to the block. As a fall back you could get a longer cable and connect the ground to one of the starter bolts.
Regardless, the connection needs to be clean and tight.

 

its not a bad idea to run multiple grounds here and there.

 

Okay guys,

I ran a cable from the bat- to the lower starter bolt. Condition is unchanged. This is wahat else I have done!
1) recreated no start condition and bypass starter solenoid with jumper cable, still no start act like dead battery.
2)changed out starter solenoid with spare, still no start, act like dead battery.
3) loosen all belts on acc. drive and all is free wheeling
4) put ratchet and socket on crank after new heat soak. Very hard to turn by hand given limited room for tools and knuckles. Will try after engine is cooled down and will crank over freely. Am I on to something here?

Talked to PO and he too had same problem although intermittantly. He said he did not use the truck daily but ran into same trouble more than once. The PPO reported same problem to PO. PPO added the extra battery and presumable the reduction gear starter.

Is it possible the engine has a growing rotating ***.? The thing runs like a champ and makes zero noise once it is going. I still need to knock this out so all help is much appreciated.

TIA Todd

 

You've made no mention on whether or not you have checked and verified what your ignition timing is. Heavily advanced timing can be a pain with a warm/ hot engine.

Josh

 

im coming up with problem with the cables/solenoid.

the other other thing i can think that might have some kind of effect other than whats been mentioned, is the flywheel. Maybe its cracked or warped. Other than that.

 

I do not know the actual degree of timing. I usually run on the ragged edge of detonation. Then I back it off some. At first I thought I was too far advanced and maybe kicking back at startup.I found here to rotate dizzy clockwise to retard for the 460/429 motor. Is that right? I did go a bit clockwise with it and it pinged like son of gun. So now I am unsure. If it diesels a bit after I turn the key off what does that indicate. Guess I need to get a timing light.

I dont have a flywheel it is a c6!

 

Could be the starter motor ...

 

I think that it may be too co-incidental that 2 starters would act the same way, but it is within the realm of possibilities. The second starter came right out of the box and was a Bosch reman.

 

FWIW I tried to spin it with the ratchet at the crank when it was cold. It seemed easier, but no way for me to measure the amount of foece needed due to space constraints

 

Have you checked for fuel to the carb yet? Can it be vapor lock and/or fuel pump issue? These are easy to check starting with seeing if fuel gets to the carb with the air filter cover off, then work backwards to the fuel pump. I had a similar problem recently and using larger diameter heater hose to go over the fuel line from the fuel pump to the carb helped, after I replaced the original fuel pump. I wasn't getting gas to carb and did as described and have been trouble free since...Finding some wood to knock on now! I hope you figure it out and good luck!

 

Ah, I missed where you'd tried a second starter.

What do you mean by "cranks as if the battery was dead"? The solenoid clicks and nothing else happens?