jstone4646

Hello all, I just bought an 84 351w c6 truck last night and will be towing it home tomorrow. The previous owner pulled the dash out of the truck, and its currently in a no start/no crank/no clicking condition. He showed me a date stamped video of the truck running just a few days ago before he started pulling wiring (he was going to sell the motor but I got to him before he pulled it and bought the whole truck). The steering column is wired up, all the wires coming off of the starter solenoid and battery are there, and the fuses are good, but she just wont come to life, no click, no attempt, no rolling over...just dead. He does have the starter solenoid laying on the fender and not bolted up....my question is, do the brackets on these solenoids provide the necessary ground against the fender which might be why it is not even trying to come to life at all? I am very excited to get this project going, shes a solid truck, 160k original miles, c6 transmission, and she is all there (in some pieces lol). Is there anything else I should be looking at for this no start indication (again its not even clicking, just dead quiet and the battery is good, no action at all when turning the key)? Is there any way to "hot wire" these old fords like shorting the solenoid out, or applying hot direct to the starter just so I can see if the engine will fire without potential damage to anything? Thanks in advance!

Steve83

That's a starter relay; a starter solenoid is ON the starter, and these trucks didn't get that type of starter until '92. Yes, its base plate is its electrical return, so it must be grounded or jumper-wired to ground or battery negative to work. It can be bypassed by simply shorting a heavy piece of metal across the 2 heavy studs (like a pair of pliers), but you should be prepared for sparks. That will ONLY cause the starter to engage the flywheel & spin the engine - it will NOT power the ignition system. So if the key is off, the engine will only crank. If the key is in RUN, then the engine might run (assuming everything else is in running condition).

Yes, it's very easy to hotwire these old trucks (pre~'97); but for obvious reasons, I'm not going to post instructions like that on the interwebz.

BTW
You might find this site better-suited to that truck: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/

jstone4646

Thanks Steve83, and I was not looking for any actual "hot wire" instructions hence the quotes, more just looking for quick ways to ensure the motor is good and will attempt to turn over (i.e. the jumper solution you gave across the two main bolts) so thank you for that. I am hopeful that is all it was being the starter relay was not properly connected to the inner fender and making that necessary ground. Thanks for the bullnose forum link also!