I thought the starter circuit on my '55 Ford was simple. I think this is a bad solenoid, and I think it may have burned up my starter. With switch in off position, it is getting power to the Starter terminal on the solenoid and through the solenoid to the output side (cable to starter). Output side of solenoid is hot (lights up test light). With switch in OFF position, the Start and Ignition terminals on the solenoid should be cold (no power) and output side (cable to starter) of the solenoid should be cold. I checked the ignition switch, with switch in OFF position, the starter terminal on the switch is cold (does not light up test light.) So far, so good. But, when I put the test light on the Start and Ignition terminals and the output side of the solenoid it light up the test light with the switch in the OFF position. Car is changed over to 12V though I changed it to 12V in 1977, so I don't think that's the issue. Is this a cheap Chinese solenoid issue or could it be getting power somewhere else?
It's the solenoid.... Stay away from the cheap ones, buy the better name-brand ones like Standard products or better yet a NOS Ford unit. But my experience with the OEM ones is they rarely fail except under extreme abuse, so I never throw away one that still functions no matter how old it is.
I’m not sure I’m following your explanation right. But typically, looking at the firewall, the large right termination is to the battery, and probably has a smaller wire that’s feeds the ignition and lights. Big terminal on the left is to the starter. Power to the small ignition terminal closes the solenoid, and provides power to the starter. When it’s closed, the ignition terminal sends a full 12volts to the coil, bypassing the ballast resistor, for full spark when cranking. If it’s got power across the two large terminals , the starter should be cranking the engine. So, a failed solenoid in the closed position, and a bad starter. If it failed closed, it would power the starter with the engine running until it burned up. But it would have made a lot of noise. (I did see that happen once on a 4-71 in a boat, where you couldn’t hear the racket). Not easy to know what else might have been done over the years. How long since it started and ran normally? edit: Steve types faster.
I'm dreading changing out the starter. It's a pain in the butt on a Y block in '54-'56 Fords. The car has been off the road since the late '80s. It's getting some power through the solenoid, not enough to turn the starter but I think it's cooked the starter. I agree, it has to be a bad solenoid. With switch in off position, the cable terminal out to the starter should be cold and the start and ignition terminals should be cold
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