How to hot wire...
 

Hey guys, my dad very recently bought an '88 F-250 and it seemed to run fine but now it wont start and we think it's the ignition because it has a starter button hooked up to it. What I'm wondering is which wires I need to bridge in order to start the truck. I was able to figure this out on my Thunderbird for my remote start pretty easily because I could take a multi meter and test the wires with the ignition on but in this case the ignition isn't closing the circuit properly. Any help would be great! We have to get it off his businesses property by tomorrow because they're changing their location..

Turn the ignition on and throw a screwdriver across the two large terminals on the solenoid (over by the battery).

Jason

If you turn the key, do you get power and no crank, or no power at all?

Thanks for the quick replies!

The engine turns over fine using the starter button. It's not getting any power so I need to know what ignition wire I need to bridge over to a 12+

If turning the key does nothing, you might have a faulty ignition switch or a broken ignition actuator rod.

The switch is located on top of the steering column near the firewall. The easiest way to get at it is to lower the steering column.

If the rod is broken, the parts are still available from Ford, and the install is a pain in the butt...but there are a few good step by steps on this board. Alternatively, you can unbolt the switch, let it hang from the harness and use a small screwdriver to work the switch. I had to do this in my '90 for a couple of months.

If the switch itself is broken, you can replace it at that point.

positive of battery to positive of coil.

then use key to start.

when removing wire to shut it off remove the wire that is connected to battery.

don't use this to steal vehicles or karma will get you.

Thanks for the replies, so the B+ to positive coil trick will still work even though this is a computer controlled vehicle?

it is like any other vehicle in this respect.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

help
 

I'm in the middle of trying to do this too, I have a new ignition and new keys that fit, but my obd2 port isn't working so I can't program them. When I try to turn my key over it won't even turn over (duh), so I ran a switch to both wires on the starter, and when I press the switch on it tries to start, it feels like it SHOULD start, but it just keeps turning over. Any ideas?