78supercab

78 2wd automatic 302. Turned the truck off and the next morning it wouldnt do anything, no clicking no nothing. Headlights are very dim when turned on. So far I've put on a new battery, new solenoid, new starter and new ground cables from starter to solenoid and from battery to block. Tried jumping solenoid with a screwdriver and still nothing. Any suggestions?

Steve83

Stop replacing parts blindly. Find the problem(s) first. Do you have a digital multimeter (DMM)? Do you know how to use it? Browse YouTube for instructional videos, and make sure the meter's battery is good. It doesn't take an expensive one to learn on, or for such an old truck (very few electronics). Even this one does MUCH more than you'd need:


(phone app link)

When you replaced the cables, did you make sure ALL their points of contact were clean & shiny?


(phone app link)

78supercab

The truck needed those things anyway so i didnt mind replacing them. Unfortunately I dont have a meter at home, I use one daily at work but I'm not really sure what to check on the truck (I'm new to the vehicle troubleshooting world other than the basics.) And yes I cleaned all of the grounds. Any idea where I should go first?

KingDeleted

78supercab

Update! My battery ground was originally mounted to my block. I decided to mount it to the fender temporarily for troubleshooting purposes and sure enough it brought my headlights back to life. Tried starting and I'm atleast getting a clunk at the starter now but thats it. Still not cranking. Is it possible ive got my new starter in a bind when I installed it?

KingDeleted

78supercab

I thought of that too, but I put the battery in my daily (87f150) and it fired up strong

Steve83

There are about 40 ground points on the truck, so you didn't get them all. And I didn't say the grounds - I said all the points of contact for the cables. That includes the 12V terminals.Back to my first reply.
That's not troubleshooting - that's CAUSING trouble. Don't try to modify the truck - especially the wiring - if you don't understand what you're doing. You've created a very high potential for a fire, and attempting to crank the engine that way could trigger one. Even if it doesn't, it can severely damage the rest of the wiring. Put it back the way it belongs, and fix the problem - don't make new ones.

Generally, your truck's battery cables should be routed the way this shows:


(phone app link)

For the block ground to work, it must be clean & tight, as these show:


(phone app link)


(phone app link)

Post pics of what you find on your truck.
http://www.supermotors.net/forums/th...-and-or-videos

burnthelight88

There aren't 40 ground points on a truck that old. You'll have block to firewall, battery to block, block to frame, possibly bed to frame. Smart folks add one from radiator support to frame.

Sounds like you have a bad ground since you're at the point of a single clunk. Fender isn't very thick metal, so its not the best ground, but apparently cleaner than wherever you had it mounted on the block.

While I get what you're saying about needing to replace those items anyhow, it only makes troubleshooting more difficult when you change 10 things at once instead of 1 at a time. So instead of troubleshooting to pinpoint one possible issue, now we have to worry about did you get a bad solenoid (common), bad starter (not quite as common) out of the box from the parts store. Original issue sounded very simply to be the battery or a ground. You replaced the battery, still not getting very far. Grounds are likely still your issue. Remove the fender ground and put it back on thick bare metal and secure it properly. Then put the battery on a charger for a little while.

If I was you I would put your original starter back on and return that parts store one, there was absolutely nothing that pointed to needing a new starter. If you decide to keep the new one against my advice, at least be sure that you bought one for the proper transmission, because they are indeed different between manual and auto in those years.

78supercab

I finally have some time today to go outside and mess with it. I will update later today on what I find so hopefully this thread will help another newbie like myself one day, thanks for all the responses so far everybody, it's much appreciated.