Newbie Electrical Problems

[Anonymous]

Ok Folks... I need another assist.

As many of you know, I have been working on my first project for much of the past year. Engine and tranny have been rebuilt. I have dropped it in to a fresh and clean engine bay. I have wired up a new batter, solenoid, starter. I have new spark plugs, wires, coil, etc.

I have followed the show manual closely, but I cannot get the dang thing started. I know the batter has a charge, I can by pass the solenoid and the starter will engage and the engine will turn over, but with the Solenoid in place, no luck. I have a brand new Solenoind (even a couple spares if push come to shove.

I need some guidance on how to trouble shoot this.

Thanks in advance.

 

[The Plankster Prankster]

the first test i recomend is to pull the little wire off the solenoid and short out between teh hot battery post and the post you just pulled the wire from. if the solenoid is good, the engine WILL crank. if it fails to crank, youre lucky - that means you just found the problem.
if thats not the problem, then you have a problem getting power to the wire that controls the solenoid (you may want to check this with a test light by having your friend hold the key in the start position while you have a test light between the wire and a ground)
problems that may cause this (not knowing your car) may be a neutral safety switch, clutch safety switch(probably not on a 69), or a bad ignition switch, or a bad wire/connection somewhere
that should be a good start for you

 

[kukm66]

Make sure you have the red wire on the battery side and the black wire on the starter side of the solenoid.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Still do not have it running. Here is what I have done.

Made sure that they Red Wire from the Harness was on the Battery Side and the Black Wire was on the Start Side.
With a tester, checked to make sure that when the ignition is switched that I got power to the black wire.

Also tested and made sure that I was getting power to the coil and ultimately to the Pertronix Electronic Ignition.

I have made sure the automatic transmission was in park.

The new Neutral safety switch is wired up.

Any other thoughts?

 

[69.5Mav]

OK, back to basics.

The solenoid is just a big relay. It has a set of contacts one hooks up to the battery and the other hooks up to the starter, this is perrty easy. The other part of the solenoid is the coil, you put power here to make the contacts close connecting the battery to the starter.To make this work you need three things power to the coil, a ground for the coil and a good coil i.e. one that is not open or shorted.

First disconnect both small wires from the solenoid.

Next turn the ignition key to on.

Then using a voltage meter measure the voltage at each of the small wires to ground. one may read battery voltage the other should not.

Next have somebody hold the Ignition key in the start position, measure the voltage of the two small wires again, the one that was zero before should now have battery voltage on it, this is your solenoid coil wire, mark it so you can identify it. If you don't get a reading here then you need to find out why voltage is not getting to this point, check for loose connections and connectors and blown fuses.

Next measure continuity (Ohms) of the two small conectors on the solenoid to ground, The one that reads is the one that your solenoid coil wire connects to. If neither reads you either have a broken solenoid or a bad ground connection.

Once you have found the solenoid coil connecter and connected the solenoid wire to it you should be able to turn the ignition key and get the motor to crank. If you get to this point you are almost there. Connect the other small wire to the other connector on the solenoid and try to start your motor.

Good Luck

 

[The Plankster Prankster]

based on your post, it appears that you did not try applying direct battery power to the small post on hte solenoid. if the solenoid doesn't respond when you apply power to that post, then the solenoid is bad or else is not properly grounded (which it is properly grounded if its properly screwed onto the fender)

 

[61Futura]

If your solenoid is like what I'm used to, it has 4 terminals. 2 big ones & 2 small ones. The 5th electrical connection to the solenoid is ground, through the bracket. It should get ground by being mounted to the metal of the inner fender. I'll assume you know the other 4, but mention them anyway. The starters heavy feed wire, the ignition coil hot lead, the solenoids coil lead that gets +12v from start position of ignition switch, and the battery positive heavy cable plus at least 1 more wire. If your missing the ground, nothing happens.

You said you have ignition voltage so I'll assume you have +12v to the ignition switch. Turning the key to start should cause the solenoid to at least click. Hopefully your starter came to life at that same moment. And the ignition system is now getting its power from the solenoid "I" terminal since it just lost its power from the ignition switch by way of resistor wire or a bypassed resistor wire.

What isn't happening for you? I got the impression your starter doesn't turn the engine over and you aren't even getting a click from the solenoid.