Starter problems

[Muag91]

I have a good starter and a new solenoid, but I don't get any power to the switch or dash and the truck won't start. I'm pretty sure there is a break in the purple switch wire someplace, but I'm not sure were the wire starts at the firewall. Does anyone have a clue as to where I should start ohming?

[john8662]

At the starter, there is a fusable link that burns up and you loose all power to the cab. I'd start there first. You can find the junction block on the firewall towards the drivers side near the hydroboost brake system. Check for voltage there, if none, I'd suspect a burned fusable link or bad connection at the starter.

[jackrabbit]

I don't know what year vehicle you have, but on my 85 6.2L the starter solenoid had shorted out and when I tried to start it, nothing happened except I lost all power to the dash, and I heard a "click" just as the dash lights went out.

15 minutes later the lights were back on, and I tried it again. They went out again. Turns out there is also a circuit breaker in the fuse block. These can malfunction. There are two of them on mine and I substituted the other one into the starter path to see if the dash lights came back on, which they did. It takes about 15 minutes for it to reset itself if it is okay.

[Muag91]

I figured out my problem/problems. I had a Chilton wiring diagrahm and it showed the charging wire going from the alt. to the starter, which I rerouted to the battery terminal. Well come to find out after cutting the loose wire down at the starter, that the charging wire must have gone to the relay up on the firewall and the switch power lead went from the relay down to the solenoid. Therefore no power to the switch, only took a day and a half to figure this one out.

Also when I took the starter off, there was a loose wire, didn't know where it went and not finding any extra large or small ends attached to the solenoid, reattached it to the starter pole on the solenoid. More vague wiring diagrams. It turns out that that wire should have been attached to the battery lead since it powered my headlight, another day gone. Was too lazy to pull the starter, so I cut the wire on top of the engine and connected it to the relay.

I also made notations on my wiring diagram so that I know how the darn things wired.

Thanks for the help. redface.gif