Sometimes it's the simple things... like a bad ground!

[Tripper]

Well I thought I either had a bad solenoid or bad starter on my Ranchero. I'd hit the key to start it & it would go dead & then the power would come back on (the radio) in a lil bit. I replaced the solenoid ($12) but no go. Although I had a spare I hated to change the starter so I started sanding & cleaning all connections. After thinking about it a lil... I thought... it isn't the starter... it just has to be a bad ground. While messing with the ground cable on the battery I noticed it was loose. I pulled it apart & yep... corroded. I cleaned it up... put it back together & tried the key again. Now the positive connection sparked. Corroded... so I cleaned it up & shazam! Lesson learned... sometimes it's the simple stuff!!! [S[ddd

BoB

 

[42chevy]

Alot of times it is the simple stuff. Glad you sorted it out.

 

[shootingmonkey]

Any time I have to deal with something electrical going wrong, the ground is the first thing I check. It usually fixes the problem.

 

[donsrods]

When some problem comes up our brains immediately start thinking the worst. We've all fixed things that don't need fixed only later to find out it was something simple, like yours, Bob.

When I had my 84 Crown Vic daily driver the transmission wouldn't go into gear one day, but I had a spare AOD laying in the shop. I didn't feel like changing it myself, so the auto repair shop down the way gave me a price of $ 250 to swap it out. I pushed the car and the new transmission down to his shop and said "fix it."

Next day he calls me up and says I owe him $ 100 and the car is fixed ! Said he had the transmission half out and then noticed the kickdown cable hanging loose under the car. He said the fix would have been about $ 7 but he had the trans almost out when he discovered it ! I gladly paid the bill and tipped him $ 50, mainly for my stupidity.

Don

 

[Roadent]

Another "Grounding" Experience

Ground up build got to the point where the enough pieces were installed to finally attempt to bring this monster to life and start the engine.

Brand new gear drive starter, battery cables were large #2/0 and neg. was grounded to a clean, freshly welded bracket on the frame. Engine attached to frame with all metal components (no rubber mounts).

Hitting the key, the starter would start to spin then "clunk" like the starter was misaligned and the starter drive was crashing into the starter ring.

Dropped the starter, rechecked alignment and clearances....all ok. Same result, rotated and checked the flex plate/starter ring teeth for damage and whatever else I could think of....same results over and over.

Finally took a short battery cable which was laying around....attached it to a frame bracket and attached the other end to the trans/engine with a trans bolt.

Hit the key and she fired right up.....SIMPLE!!