Forrest0144

This is my first post here so excuse me if I do something wrong.
So I bought a 1977 ford F150 highboy 4x4 with the dual battery my engine is the 351 V8. So I recently installed some after market pod lights to the vehicle and while I had the truck idling in the driveway it just died this was immediately after setting up the lights. I did the screw driver in the spark plug wire and there was a spark going to the ground. I heard from a friend that worked on old trucks told me it could be one of my solenoids is this correct and do you guys know which one?

Johnboy429bbf

You mean the starter solenoid?

Forrest0144

He said there was multiple and it was either the one that was attached to the fire wall or the starter solenoid.

Johnboy429bbf

Should only have one. It should be on the fender. If the truck is cranking over the. The solenoid is not the problem.

Forrest0144

That's what I thought I was thinking new spark plugs. I don't think it would be a clogged fuel filter cause it didn't sound like it was running out of fuel.

Johnboy429bbf

Pull a sparkplug out and see if you have actual spark.

Forrest0144

I replaced the spark plugs just after buying the truck I will check that. I went ahead and checked if I have any fuel getting to the carb and it is getting there but much slower than I think it should I took off the fuel filter and it is still moving slowly I think it is my fuel pump I don't know where I could find one for my truck since I have the dual gas tank.

Steve83

A '77 wasn't built with a starter solenoid (which is a part of the starter); it only has a starter relay on the fender. But the starter relay is only used for starting - it can't cause the engine to stall.

The number of tanks has nothing to do with the fuel pump. If there's fuel moving to the carb and NOT leaking out of the pump's weep hole, the pump is probably fine. If the carb bowl has fuel in it (if it sprays down the venturi when you move the throttle lever rapidly to wide-open), then there's enough fuel flowing.

I recommend you buy the appropriate Haynes manual, and read it cover-to-cover at least once. This is for later trucks, but there's one for yours:


(phone app link)

How exactly did you connect the lights? Post pics as this link explains:
http://www.supermotors.net/forums/th...-and-or-videos

Forrest0144

That's what I've been looking through but I can't seem to make any sense of it. I'll send a pic of the lights in a second, but what I did was I had some one press the fuel pedal while the truck was in the on position and barely any fuel came out. I had them do it while trying to start it and still no fuel. I have a clear fuel filter and I could see some fuel getting there, but no where near fast enough. I also tried unhooking the fuel filter to see if that was why I wasn't getting the proper amount of fuel if it was clogged or something similar to that and still nothing. What do you guys think?

Forrest0144

So basically the wire connecting the pump to the battery had busted so I replaced that but since it's a wire to the battery it's always on how do I make it so that is comes on only when the key is turned?