1987 f150xlt, 2wd, auto, 302.
Ten weeks ago I pulled the motor for a rebuild. It is all back together now. I marked all the connections and I double checked that A was plugged back into A and so on. The batt, batt cables, solenoid, & starter are new.
Before buying the new electrics I charged the old batt and installed it. Had horn, lights, radio. It was late and dark so I left it for the night. In the morning I had nothing. That is when I bought new batt cause I figured if it would not hold a charge then get a new one.
With the new batt I have no power to the dash. No horn, radio, lights. I checked all the fuses under the dash. All are good.
Good possibility I have a short somewhere but there is no arching, sparking or charred smell. The new batt holds its charge. Other than under the dash are there other fuses or switches? The one fused link I found has good continuity. The new starter does not work from the switch.
Where else should I be looking?
Regards,
Clord

 

Further testing shows with key on, no power to the fuses. Found 4 fusilble links under starter solenoid. Follow that bundle back to driver side wheel well. Disconnect large connector. There is power in the center pin.
On another note. I jumped the two main posts on the solenoid expecting the starter to kick. Nothing happened.
Still trying to find where the electrics have gone south on me. Trouble shooting sugggestions would appreciated.

 

There is one main cable going it to your fuse box does it have power? Do you own a volt meter?

 

Have a small meter. I have been using he heck out of it. Here is an update. I found the reb starter to be DOA and I am returning that later today. With the starter cable disconnected from the solenoid I was doing some amp testing on the pos side of the batt. I get a 38 DCmA for 1 second. I have to disconnect for at least 3 seconds, connect again and get the same level. It is similar to popping a breaker like the system is protecting itself from a short
I found the power wire going into the firewall plug. It is hot up to the plug. That is the big round plug with about 20+ wires in front of the driver on the firewall. Have not had a chance to get past that and under the dash a whole lot.
Any ideas on where and what to check would be appreciated.

 

Followup: First, thank you to those that posted and helped out with this. It was not one problem but three.
Primary ground, OEM ground cable was toast. Replaced with two cables, one to frame then frame to starter mounting bolt. Could not get continuity from starter bolt to new cable. Changed out bolt. I don’t know, changed out bolt and problem went away.
Cables at frame sandwiched the frame. I was loosing ground here so I put both cables on top of frame. Took some re-routing and I ground down to bare metal for good contact.
Primary wire to connections at driver side firewall came into a splice. Tore splice apart and found major corrosion here. Cut this out and soldered in new splice. Coated with silicon, liquid tape, plastic tape and heat shrink. Should be water tight. Also, plugged OEM option mounting holes in fender well. Water was splashing through well and getting wires wet.
Fuel injector harness had been rebuilt. Found #5 to be wired backwards. Maybe this was my ground issue. I really don’t know for sure.
Power back to dash and all expected options. Motor kicks over. Now to re-install wire harness and startup newly rebuilt motor.