Alright guys, I feel like I'm burning the forum up now with three posts this week alone..

Specs:

1986 F150XL - EFI 302 - Auto Trans - bought running and driving for $600

Preface:

So Friday night I took my wife on a date to the drive in in the truck like a good husband does and everything is fine. Truck starts, runs, and drives as normal there and back (arrive home about midnight). Saturday morning at about 7am I go to start the truck and it just clicks like the battery's dead. I try to turn it over again and it doesn't make any noise at all. So, in a hurry and with no time to mess with it, I hop in my daily driver and go about my day.

Later that evening, at about 4:30pm, I try to jump it and my cables keep trying to weld themselves to the terminals and everything is getting super hot, so I stop that immediately. At this point the truck will still try to click but then again stops. I figured the solenoid is shot.

Tonight (Tuesday) I try to turn it over and get nothing. No sound or click whatsoever. Still, my cables try to stick to the terminals. I Immediately disconnect the cables and start investigating. Come to find out, the black wire was connected to the positive terminal and the red was connected to the negative terminal. So, I flipped the battery around, connected red to + and black to - . I try to jump it and immediately notice a plume of smoke coming from the solenoid. Again, I yank the cables from the battery.

**Note** The more I mess with this truck the more I am realizing the wiring is an absolute mess. Stuff cut everywhere, stuff spliced everywhere, male or female plugs just hanging with no matching opposite anywhere to be found, etc. I never worried about this because the truck ran so well and I didn't have any intentions of fixing anything.

So I get into it and realize the battery terminals were right the first time, the colors are just backward for whatever reason. I find one 14ga wire had melted and separated so I reconnected this and swapped the solenoid for a new (Duralast Gold Series) Solenoid.

I get everything wired back as it should be, let the battery charge for a few, go to turn it over, and nothing.

Dillema:

I have absolutely no idea what's wrong. The fact that it ran just fine and then 7 hours later it just didn't has me stumped.

Any schematics, diagrams, ideas, etc. are helpful at this point.

I bought this truck specifically to use for renovating my new house and I close on Thursday (two days from now) and had planned to start Friday, so if I can't sort this out in the next two evenings my wife may have my head.

 

My first thought is the backwards hookups (when things got hot/welded) likely fried the diodes in the alternator and the charging system is now shot. No guarantee there but it's what I suspect will be the result of that.

All the backwards hook-ups very well may have fried one or more fusible links (they attach to the positive battery post on the starter solenoid) those wires feed the fusebox and entire truck. Locate those puppies, tug on them and see if the stretch or come apart (in which case they need to be replaced, get them from an auto parts store).

As for the original problem, I suspect the starter motor relay (solenoid) was the primary culprit there but bad primary connections can also cause those symptoms so that's just a guess.

It's normal to have unused (female) connectors, the trucks came pre-wired to be able to accept a lot of options, whether they were installed or not. But we need pictures to say anything more, too much gets left to the imagination.

 

Pictures are going to help here.

There are a few things is could be, those being the starter, the cables, the battery clamps, and of course the battery the list is quite extensive.

Rule out the starter and starter relay to starter cable first.
Using your jumper cables take the positive hook it to the pos terminal (remove the pos cable on the battery and the output on the starter relay if you can hook it directly to the cable lug. This will bypass the starter relay and pos battery cable. If you get no crank on a fully charged then the culprit is likely the starter. But maybe the ground. Remove the neg bat cable from the battery and jump from the neg terminal to a good ground on the engine and test once again with the pos to output on the starter relay.
If you still get no crank bypass the relay to starter cable by putting power directly to the starter. if you still get no crank the starter is hosed, provided the bolts have not backed out but you can check this while under the truck bypassing the start relay to starter cable.

 

Alright so what I've tracked it down to is the little arm in the ignition itself at the wheel being broken. I'm not going to mess with pulling the wheel but instead I'm going to just wire up a switch and momentary-on button. Any diagrams for the ignition that will help out here? Or maybe a how-to with this truck?

I've got a yellow/green, green/orange, green, green/white, orange/light blue, dark blue 12ga, light blue 14ga, white/light blue, white/red candy stripe, and black wire going into the ignition.

The person before me wired in a tac that is wired really fishy so any help on that one would be appreciated too.

 

This thing could help you greatly:

1986 EVTM - Gary's Garagemahal (the Bullnose bible)

 

Same basic question from three years ago, and my response is still the same:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post16798264

 

2 nuts (think I recall 10 mm) hold the elec part of ign switch to top portion of bottom column. If you remove 2 nuts, push elec switch off top of lower column off towards accelerator pedal side, you can pull switch out from under dash enough (barely though) to cycle switch with a phillips screwdriver in the slider part of the switch.

 

Pulling the wheel isn't as scary as it sounds, I've done the same job of replacing that little arm. I have a friend with a bullnose that the PO had installed a switch to turn the truck on. The wiring was messed up, and that truck still won't start right.

 

Well I'm moving and in a pinch. The truck is sitting in the parking lot of the apartment complex I'm moving out of.

Luckily I'm wiring this straight into the connector that plugs into the ignition switch using male disconnects so everything can be put back to stock later if necessary.

 

If it helps, most box auto stores have steering wheel pullers on loaner tool program. I have completed 2 steering column actuator stick repairs, cleaning all the old ear wax grease out of ignition tumbler area and actuator stick area, and I'm barely functional as a mechanic. So, if I can, ANYONE can. I do recall cutting about an inch or so off tip of replacement actuator rod with dremel cut off disc so I wouldn't have to take apart so much. Check youtube video, but for now, remove 2 10mm nuts, pull switch out toward accelerator and cycle that dude on and off with a metal rod in your hand like phillips head. No hokey buttons and problems, it'll work fine for awhile. When you park, shove back under dash, no one will see. Best temporary, you're going to regret push buttons, switches, toggles, etc. in the long run

 

(READ ORIGINAL POST FOR BACKSTORY/DETAILS)

Alright y'all,

I am not a wiring guy and I am in DESPARATE need of one at this point. I don't fully understand all the electronics of the ignition system and I need someone who does. I have replaced the ignition switch, all the fusible links at the solenoid, the solenoid itself (twice) and I still have no power to the ignition switch.

The frustrating part is, IT FREAKING STARTS THOUGH. If I jump the solenoid, it will start and run so long as I continue to keep the starter engaged to keep the motor turning because there is no constant power (ignition bypass) without the ignition switch working. For now, I just have the ignition switch hanging and engaging it with a screwdriver until I figure out what is happening here.

At this point I just need suggestions/pictures of what to check and what to try to replace. Maybe there's some hidden fuse I'm not aware of that I need to check somewhere. I think it would be best for someone to walk me through their trouble shooting steps as if they were approaching this from the start to see if I have overlooking something simple from the start.

Thank you all for the help in advance. This forum has given me so much help and insight on my truck already and I highly appreciate it all.

 

Pictures.

10 chars

 

So you’re saying it’ll crank and run both with ignition switched to crank manually, then bypassing starter solenoid with screwdriver....? Is that correct?

 

That is correct

 

What pictures would be helpful?