no power to starter, kinda stumped.

Were working on an O/T Chevy pickup (83) thats kinda on topic because it's used for pulling project cars hom from junkyards I guess. But anyways, heres whats going on:

Battery, starter, solenoid, etc. are all good. When I turn the switch...nothing, no clicks, the headlights don't dim, no response at all. It's a 350/700r with a Q-jet, nothing out of the ordinary. Any ideas?

 

Check voltage to the starter. Check the lead to the solenoid. All ok hit it with a hammer

 

Also dont forget nutral safty switch or clutch switch if it'stick.

 

Jumper from B+ to the "S" terminal on the starter. If it cranks, check voltage at the purple(?) wire off the ignition switch down on the column. Should have 12V when turned to crank.

 

IDEAS? Really?

#1. It's not on topic. Not even sort of.

#2. If you don't know how to diagnose a starting problem, don't start giving information about "known good parts", that you know as fact. The fact is that you don't know. Other than that, everything is a possible culprit.

It's just ****ing electricty. It aint hard.


Battery, starter, solenoid, etc. are all good

Just out of curiosity, how do you KNOW that the solenid and starter are good?

You turn the key and there's no "click" but yet you know that solenoid and starter are good. If you know the solenoid and starter are good, you must own a test light and or a meter. If you know how to use them. is another matter.

Sorry for at***ude but I had a long day at work. Someone aking for help on a ten minute diagnosis while stating all of the parts that are good (cause they just bought them and bolted them on), infuriates me.

Again. Sorry but you need to befriend someone who knows how to fix cars.

 

The harder the problem the easier the solution. In other words ck the simple stuff first.

 

haha, 80s gm had this thing called a fusable link. just a chunk of wire that burns out like a fuse. its dumb, it goes in the line from the key to the solenoid.

 

Hold the key for on and Rick the gear shift back and forth. Might be a bad neutral safety switch

 

What infuriates me is people who click on a thread asking for help when all they want to do is be a *****.

 

Rock the gear shift

 

Really, no need to be rude and mean spirited to the guy, he was just asking for help. Would you talk that way to him face to face?

 

maybe he's like that guy who has 6 or 8 kids and went to the doctors for something only to find out he has male AND female genitalia.that would put me in a bad mood.

 

check the battery cables

 

That WOULD be rough... He could have PMS and STILL have to deal with it!

 

Back to the subject- if nothing dims when you hit the ignition switch, the trouble is BEFORE the starter- ignition switch or neutral safety switch.

 

key on the column?the rod or gear on the column may not be moving enough.stick a screw driver across the 2 starter wires see if goes.the steering column switch can be removed an activated by hand to check the column.let us know what you find out.also is there a small wire on the + side cable on those?if they break you ain,t going.

 

The solenoid ACTIVATING (which it is NOT) is what would cause the headlights to 'dim'. DD

 

ended up being the neutral safety switch. I wasn't sure if it had one because it wasn't in the usual place and i don't usually work on anything this new. It has one of the stupid ones on the bottom of the column. Now I have to get a good carb built for it and I should be able to start getting some more 50's stuff drug out of the yard before they get crushed.

As for people clicking on threads just to be *****s, this is the HAMB. If it wasn't choked full of self absorbed arrogant *****s, it just wouldn't be HAMB. The thing is that those *****s think that people actually read their posts, so in reality the joke is on them. Good job retards.

 

If you had a bad day it's not this guys fault. He's just asking for help and you bit his head off. WHOA!!!! Give some guys a keyboard and it goes straight to their head, JERK FACE!!

 

I know that starter and all that are good because I pulled them out and checked all that stuff. I'm a welder, not an electricican. And if you had the balls (which you don't) to talk to me like that in person, your family would be visiting you in the hospital.

 

...or anything AFTER those items, like the wire to the solenoid, or the solenoid itself, or a bad ground to the engine block...

All the guessing in the world is still just a guess.

This type of troubleshooting is still on topic since all of our cars use electricity, and we all have been *****s at some time in our lives, right?.

And it's still just the internet...

 

And why is the solenoid NOT activating?? Derrrrr.....

 

That would be the point of my original inquiry. Derrrrrrr.

 

Glad it was a neutral safety switch, friend. Never mind the ***wipes out here.... There are plenty of nice guys who will give you bad advice as well!

 

And the point of my (now proven correct) diagnostic-guess.

 

There are guesses and there are educated guesses. Most guys out here are hobbyists, which is great. I've been fixing cars for 48 hrs a week for the past 36 years.

Whose guess is less guessy?

 

This truck has been hacked around on quite a bit so it's gonna take some re wiring, carb building, fuel pump changing, etc. but at least it fires up now. Motor sounds great and the body is rot free for $800. Some jack *** put a 3500 stall in it though so I'll have to change that out. The cool part is that it already has 1 ton springs in the rear so I'll be able to haul plenty of 50's iron with it.

 

DD COOPMAN hit all the normal things to check before you got here and and started giving him a hard time? He seems pretty educated to me. And he was right.

I fix things only after I test them. An educated guess may tell me which things to test first, but until it's proven it is still suspect.

I'm guessing you still have a few things to learn.

 

I never gave DD COOPMAN a hard time... I think you need to re-read the thread.
Of course I have MANY things to learn...the second you think you know everything, you can't learn anything....by definition.

However, I have pretty much mastered reading comprehension.....