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More 390 FE Woes

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 1965Olds88, May 1, 2012.

  1. PetesPonies
    Joined: Nov 6, 2007
    Posts: 402

    PetesPonies
    Member
    from Maryland

    Understand Ford used different stater noses for autos and manuals. So make sure your starter has the auto nose on it and not the manual trans nose.
     
  2. hot74roadrunner
    Joined: Nov 18, 2008
    Posts: 115

    hot74roadrunner
    BANNED

    yes im working on an edsel that had a simlar problem. check your voltage regulator connection and follow the wires back to the fire wall look for bald spots ect if this engine has a gen on it same goes for it use a flash light and if wires are dirty clean them with brake cleaner with battery unhooked dont want a fire if there is a short some were check connections to the key swith from under the dash if you take a make up mirror and tape it to a paint stick you can see all the wire up in there it is possible that rodents have chewed a bad spot somewere in that harness and if you come up blank on that take off the voltage regulator but leave the wires connect take a drill and drill out the rivetts that hold the cover on remove cover and take some sand paper and clean the points in them they are just like in the distributor the spray with some wd40 take small screw driver and work the points open and closed if you have access to multimeter check your voltage also check wires to alt/gen it could be shorting out to the regulater and send back voltage to the ignition swith also if there is a balast risister on the fire wall check your voltage to that as well i know all this sound like a pain but one will cause a chain reaction to the other and result being were you are.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2012
  3. 1965Olds88
    Joined: Mar 30, 2009
    Posts: 58

    1965Olds88
    Member
    from Essex UK

    this may be a silly question but should the voltage regulator have a grounding connection where it bolts to the body panel?
     
  4. farmalldan
    Joined: Sep 4, 2009
    Posts: 141

    farmalldan
    Member
    from Duncan, OK

    Your solenoid has two small terminals on it with small wires plugged onto them. One is the terminal to energize the solenoid to start the car. The other is the coil resistor byp***. It seems possible that you have swapped them. If so, then the byp*** is fed from the coil ignition circuit and will serve to energize the relay. Try swapping them and see if your problems go away.
     
  5. hot74roadrunner
    Joined: Nov 18, 2008
    Posts: 115

    hot74roadrunner
    BANNED

    yes but they the points stick the condensors do short out if you want to see if its yourswitch run a wire from the hot side of the coil to the battery then jump the selenoid with a screwdriver make sure its in park sometimes the selnoids short out to and do this there should be a wire towards the front of the car on the selenoid disconnect that and any other wires going from the battery to the harness this will elliminate the harness and it may be your starter shorting it is possible ive seen brand new starters come with shorted armetures any how do that first if it does it you know its gonna be the selinoid or its gonna be the starter that way if it still does it you will know they are not the problem dont run it to long its not gonna be charging
     
  6. 1965Olds88
    Joined: Mar 30, 2009
    Posts: 58

    1965Olds88
    Member
    from Essex UK


    i wish this were the case, however these wires have been in the same position since the day i got the car :confused:

    even yesterday it was all operating perfectly, the issue has only arisen since i have bolted the wings on and bolted the solenoid and volt reg to the bodywork. Yerterday i was getting a ground connection to the solenoid by bolting it to a hole on the ch***is and the voltage reg just sat on the floor unearthed.

    i will check to see if when i remove the volt reg from its position whether it still happens
     
  7. hot74roadrunner
    Joined: Nov 18, 2008
    Posts: 115

    hot74roadrunner
    BANNED

    its also possible that ther could have been some debrit inside the regulator that fell inside there but this sounds like a major ground issue but one thing i have found out abought thease old fords over the years is there could be a loose or a wire grounding out in a completly differnt place but it sound like the selinoid is not properly grounded
     
  8. 1965Olds88
    Joined: Mar 30, 2009
    Posts: 58

    1965Olds88
    Member
    from Essex UK

    and right you are!
    there isn't sufficient grounding to the inner fender apron. I grounded the solenoid back to the ch***is and it all worked perfectly again. I guess i need to make sure the contact points where the fender meets the apron and front panel are creating a conductive connection.

    I'm also wondering if i'm missing a ground strap too, there's one connecting engine to ch***is and one connecting intake manifold to firewall, should there be one connecting the front panel too as this is currently insulated at the lower frame join with a rubber shim and the inner apron is also insulated at the firewall with a rubber mount?
     
  9. 56premiere
    Joined: Mar 8, 2011
    Posts: 1,445

    56premiere
    Member
    from oregon

    You can never have too many good grounds.iIf you don't have enough of em nothing works as it should.Don't just use small wires,use heavy straps.
     
  10. rprice76
    Joined: Jun 4, 2011
    Posts: 441

    rprice76
    Member
    from Palominas

    Er - I had this exact same problem happen on my Edsel. If the solenoid is one of those aftermarket ones - they can be problematic - especialy if they are of the plastic variety.

    On mine the starter wire melted and shorted out. Which caused electrical overload which caused the solenoid to heat up and warp (pastic). Something inside then shorted out. Both times either the car would stay running - or the starter would not disengage. The regulators are rather cheap - I swapped mine out - and fixed the starter wire short - problem solved.
     
  11. 40 & 61 Fords
    Joined: May 17, 2006
    Posts: 1,999

    40 & 61 Fords
    Member

    I've got a 68 390 I'm putting in my 61 Galaxie. I'm mating it up to the stock cruise-o-matic that was in the 61. Do I want to use the flexplate for the original Cruise-o-matic, or the one that came with the later 390?
     
  12. 1965Olds88
    Joined: Mar 30, 2009
    Posts: 58

    1965Olds88
    Member
    from Essex UK

    from what i've learned recetly i'm thinking you will need to use the original starter motor so therefore the original flexplate as well. The 68 motor will most likely have the flexplate to fit a C6 starter which throws the bendix gear outwards whereas the COM should be the same as my MOM which pulls it inwards to mesh gears.
     
  13. Fairlane Mike
    Joined: Sep 21, 2010
    Posts: 389

    Fairlane Mike
    Member

    Just wondering if this got fixed?
     
  14. sunbeam
    Joined: Oct 22, 2010
    Posts: 6,397

    sunbeam
    Member

    I vote for a bad starter drive
     
  15. 1965Olds88
    Joined: Mar 30, 2009
    Posts: 58

    1965Olds88
    Member
    from Essex UK

    It was a combination 2 things. Bad battery and badly aligned starter motor. I got a new battery and it was much better but still under strain, so I loosened the bolts of the starter and pried the motor away from the casing whilst doing them back up, there is a small amount of play in the fixing, turns out this bendix drive might be slightly bigger than the original so needs a tad more room ;)
    All works great now so onto the brakes
     

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