i have a '55 ford car, 6 volt positive ground. it's not cranking or starting. when the key is turned to the 'on' position, the generator and oil pressure lights come on, when the key is turned to the 'start' position, they temporarily go off, like they should but the starter solenoid does not click, nothing happens. i had to replace the severely worn ignition cylinder, and when i did i also replaced the ignition switch, no chinese made junk either. the car has run since then and i triple checked my work to be sure it wasn't something to do with that. i checked the starter solenoid, it is good, the battery is good and i topped it off with distilled water. i traced the wiring from the ignition to the starter solenoid, all seems good there. so i guess my questions are, no. 1, is there a ballast resistor on these cars that i didn't see, and 2, what's the best way to test the starter still in the car, and 3, what else could be causing this issue? anyone ever run into this on a similar ford setup? this is my first positive ground setup, but i can't imagine it's that much different than my chevy or my plymouth from that same era... any help would be greatly appreciated!
Is this a automatic,or stick. The neutral safety switch might be bad .The easy way is jump from the starter solenoid wire terminal the battery cable and see if it cranks. You do know these old fords only start in neutral not park.
X-2 on LDLUCK-Neutral safety if its automatic--or bad solenoid-or wire fron ign switch to starter solenoid.
What I usually do first is put your foot on the brake. Then turn the key to the start/crank position and move the shifter around and through the gears. Just to make sure that the park neutral switch didnt move out of adjustment. I would say a test light is going to be your best friend on this one.
Check the connection between the cables and the battery. You may not be able to see any oxidation/junk, but it takes so little there to stop the starter from getting the cranking amps needed. Hit the terminals and the cable ends with sandpaper and try it.
Have had ford starter switch loose ground to the inner fender or the inner fender loose ground to the frame/battery. Try a jumper wire from battery ground to one of the bolts holding the starter switch to the inner fender.
so after a lot of tracing wires and becoming good friends with my test light and voltage tester, i found i had a couple problems. the neutral safety switch was ****. i byp***ed it, don't need it, i'll make sure i'm not in gear when i start the car. second, there was a problem at the distributor, checked the points, all is good there, cleaned the cap up and looked for cracks, and then replaced the rotor and discovered that the condenser needs to be replaced. did that, and threw in a new coil and battery for good measure (cheap enough), and now i'm up and running. drove her to the sunday morning cruise-in today and no problems at all. thank you all for your help here, it is greatly appreciated!
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