God it always something .Ok my 65 falcon 289 auto sat for a week well i got my batt charger .Before it sat i tried starting and it turned over like 4 times before the batt lost steam .I charged batt and now I went to start and it does nothing .There is power and all the elect works fine .Its like the switch is not making contact to start car or something .When try to start the alt and oil light goes off like it did when it started but nothing . Somebody told me to try hitting starter .If so how hard and what part do it hit? Somebody said it could be the switch ?It just did start like week ago so i do not see how this could be . Any ideas ,please help. Thanks
do your head light turn on , If they do its just a bad contaction to the starter . If your going to try hitting the starter just hit it on the body in the middle but i dont think thats it . check the battery cables, does it make a clicking sound or just nothing . start easy new battery then the solenoid. I bet its a contaction from the battery or from the solenoid or the solenoid to the starter
All electric ,lights radio and all other work fine.I tried tapping the starter.It makes no sound but atl and batt lights dim when it goes to start like it did when it started normally.
It sounds like you have high resistance in your starter circuit. I would check you terminals at the starter for corotion and work your way back to the battery. if the cable is corroted you will be dropping to much voltage across it and it will not turn the starter. if you have a volt meter set it to DC volts and put one end on the positive battery terminal and the othe on the positive starter terminal( the one coming from the battery) and try to start the car. if you see anthing over .5 volts that cable is junk ether it is pinched or it is corroted. it just a simple voltage drop test.
FWIW, My '64 Galaxie with A/T acts like that sometimes. The neutral safety switch is screwy and shifting between gears and back to park wiggles the switch enough to let it start. Try it, it might be something really simple.
Make sure you have good clean connections at the battery terminals and at the starter and ground connections. Checking the neutral safety switch is a good idea tomcat.
Thanks guys . It is a new starter solenoid. New batt cables but not new one to starter.. Could that resistance issue just all of sudden happen with iut driving or using the car ? I thought that about the neutral safety switch and tried moving back and forth and nothing .How do you change this and it really involved? I am ready to just get new cable to starter ,new starter and new ignitions switch.Not sure if these are worth it if i do not need. I am just puzzled cause the car was not used and just sat there and turned over just needed gas and then when i added cause it would not turn over.
Do you have a volt meter? Or one of those clamp on load testers? They are 20 bucks at Harbor Freight, and will help you in this area. That aside, it is possible your battery is junk. Typically on Fords the solenoid will click rapidly when the battery is low. The lights and stuff will still come on, because your battery has enough power, but if you put a load on it, like starting it, it fails. Check all connections to the battery, and clean them, and make sure they are tight. If you have a big battery charger put it on boost while hooked up to the car and see what happens. Its not too often a solenoid, or starter switch ****s the bed. The battery or cables is usually it.
The batt is like 8 months old and is not a cheap batt .So i doubt its bad it was low but i was listing to radio when working on it and my friend had charger. I do not have a clamp on meter but i can get one .A clamp on type is one that just clamps on cable. Yeah there is no noise at all just quite . The batt is new looking and clean the cables are new ,the only one that is not is one to starter .
If all the other cables check out, and the battery is good, grab some jumper cables and put one end on the + battery post and the other end on the starter post. That will solve that problem. Look at the 2 little wires on the solenoid. The old wiring likes to break and the ends that push on there like to get bigger, making for poor contact. Put a screw driver on the battery cable-to-post terminal on the solenoid, and another where the starter cable goes. Touch them together in the middle. When you touch the 2 screwdrivers together, the starter should crank. Do not hold them together forever, because lots of sparks will happen, and they will weld together. A couple touches will tell you if there is any life. Make sure it is out of gear when you do that.
Thanks Guys will try tomorrow . So if I touch the two screwdrivers togtherand nothing happens that means the starter is bad?
The guys have pretty well named all of the possibilities. If you don't have a multimeter buy one. I would suggest getting one at Sears they usually have one for under 20.00 on sale. If that isn't cheap enough Harbor freight has one for about 5 buks. Also get a test light if you don't have one. I just replaced the battery in my daughters Ford daily driver. It would start or almost start the car when the weather was good or it was driven every day but would drain after sitting for the weekend. I had a student once who finally figured out that his "battery" problem was his 13 year old brother playing the sterio for a few hours several evenings a week while he was at work. That was after about three weeks of jump starting the car several times a week and testing every system on the car several times. 1. Make sure that the battery actually has a full charge. It should read about 12.5 volts. give or take a tenth. 2. Check each battery cable and starter cable connection. Especially the ground connections. This includes the ground connection to the block make sure it is clean and the bolt/nut is tight. 3. Make sure that the wire from the switch to the solenoid is on the correct post of the solenoid. You can use a test light to check for power through that wire when the switch is turned to start. If it lights up that would eliminate the switch and neutral safety switch from the list of possible problems. 4. The neutral safety switch is on the top side column a few inches from the firewall (inside). It usually has four wires going into it. two for the neutral switch and two for the backup lights. If the car has a factory floor shift automatic it may be on the shifter. Some models are on the side of the transmission also. 5 The screw driver trick across the solenoid will work but expect some sparks. You might try a jumper wire from the pos post of the battery to the sol post on the solenoid. Just touch it to the post don't connect both ends solid. This eliminates the whole wiring system. (also the way car thieves start these older Fords).
I agree on most of the quoted items. I do have some additional thoughts #1 Does your battery have removable caps, if so a hydrometer can also be used to check state of battery. I believe a fully charged battery should be 1.26 or so. #2 Definitely check the ground cables, both to the engine and to the frame/firewall/fender. Probably the most overlooked. #3 Agreed #4 I always thought neutral safety switches were on the ******, especially on C4/C6 ******s. That is what you should have in Falcon. It is the half moon thing where the linkage is on the ******. #5 I sure would'nt jumper the two big terminals of the solenoid. This is definitely a safety hazard, what with the battery being questionable and sparks can give out a bad explosion. Instead jumper large battery post of solenoid to small "S" terminal of solenoid. Do it momentary, the solenoid (really a relay) will click or do nothing. Nothing means you have a bad battery connection or bad cable. Click and no crank means you probably have starter woes.
Ok I did #5 and that was really helpfull .Ok and it clicked but no starter at all.Just loud clicking from the solenoid. So this means pretty much starter then?Why would it not click like that when I turn the key in the car through from solenoid?
You need to make sure you have electrical continuity on your wires. If the solenoid is clicking, your good from the battery (continuity wise anyway). With the new multi-meter you just bough, put the dial on the continuity position and touch the red to the starter cable and black to the same cable on the solenoid. To answer one of your earlier questions, yes, even if it started a week ago, you could have built up corrosion on either positive or negative cables, especially if you are charging it (gases from bat promote the corrosion). Stop jumping around and troubleshoot the thing systematically or you'll be there forever. All connections from battery to starter. Meter the voltage at all positions. Even good looking cables can be corroded inside. My first inclination was neutral safety switch and bad connections (probably ground on the block)
You could have a number of possibilities. Ignition switch, neutral safety, wiring from ignition switch to neutral safety, neutral safety to S on the relay wiring. Easiest way of debugging is to take the voltmeter and connect from S on relay to nearest ground. Have someone turn the key in both P and N gear positions. You should hear the solenoid click. If no click then go back to neutral safety and hook voltmeter to one wire at a time (with the other voltmeter to ground.) Retry the test till you find one of the wires that gives you 12V. (You may see one that has 12V on it when in the ignition RUN position. Ignor that one since that is for the backup lights. This note only applies if you have 4 wires to neutral safety switch (backup light 12V source) If no 12V in the start position then take voltmeter to ignition switch start terminal and repeat test. By finding the 12V you will now know that the problem is AFTER that point and before the S on the relay. GOOD LUCK. BTW: I would take the starter to AZ or some parts store and have it tested.
Well i found problem .The neutral switch .For some reason now I have to keep the shift arm all the way to the left beyond P.How hard is it to change this switch?
Pretty easy, but I would try adjusting first. The two mounting screws are loosened and the switch body is adjusted left or right to complete the circuit in both P and N positions. If the switch needs to be replaced just remove the mounting screws and unplug the cable. If there is no plug you will have to splice the wires to the new switch.
Yep, I forgot about that little detail when I did the other post. The switch is the same as the early Mustangs Scroll down to switches http://www.falconparts.com/faqstuff/displaycatalog.asp Here is a link to a Mustang parts site with a photo and the factory Ford part number. http://www.trophymustang.com/1964early-neutral-safety-switch-p-1340.html If you need one that Ford parts number should help you find the right one.
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