After overhauling my dash/cluster on the 68 custom, time for it to go back together after a few months . Since I haven’t started it up in probably 6 months, I plugged back in the ignition switch , steering column. Plug and went to crank it over- nothing . Idiot lights go on but no crank nothing . Figured the neutral switch might be out of adj , moved it around and still nothing . Battery fully charged exterior lights and remaining interior lights good . Any thoughts ? The cluster, pad , ducts were all removed . Going to go underneath tomorrow and check connections but never had starting issues prior . Will post some photos tomorrow .
Use a test light to see if the s connection at the solenoid is getting 12 volts when you twist the key to crank. Then back track from there if not.
Going out there in a few to do what Larry suggested ( waiting for the garage heat to fire up ) ; with the key turned to engage the starter , would that be the purple wire that should hot then . The starter is fairly new maybe 12 hrs drive time on it .
Best of luck getting her going : ) I got my heat going too, wife is out of town so I am rebuilding a TPI in the den! “Sniff sniff? Is that a gasoline smell?!” “Nope! not as far as you know honey”
Yes, only when you twist the key to crank, so you'll need a helper. Use a test light, touch it to the purple wire "S" terminal and have someone twist the key. The light should light. If it doesn't follow the diagnostics in the Chassis manual.
Reach up under the ignition switch and squeeze it together. (I had an intermittent loss of power on a ‘68 I used to own-switch would work its way apart slightly and lose contact). Patrick
Does your battery have amperage... 12.4 volts does not mean its charged.. which does give bright headlights. Lights dont need amps to be bright..
waiting for someone to get home to turn key to check voltage . I have a remote start button that would tell me if the starter is good . I haven’t used it in a while , red clamp to red pos battery terminal , can’t remember where the black clamp goes on to on the solenoid . Checked ignition switch Pat it’s tight. One thing that my neighbor, retired truck mechanic said is don’t trust the neutral safety switch. The car has been off the road except for a few “ test drives “ for 2 1/2 yrs . I retired the original ST 300 in favor of a mildly built THM 350 . Went in w/o a hitch, linkage seems to work well with the extra gear . Drove it last time in the spring and I verified the neutral switch was working.
Just borrowed a flulike meter , what’s the amps range I should be in under load ? Battery is 2 yrs old 650 cca’s always on a float charge.
First, that battery needs to be charged. It's reading 11.8v, needs to be 12.6v. Second, a 600 cca battery needs to be tested with a 300 amp load for 10 seconds. What good does it do to check a discharged 600 cca battery with a 100 amp load for a couple of seconds? Also, when he cranked it, the battery voltage dropped below 9v. An ecm shuts down at 9.6v. This is why you don't use YouTube to repair a car.
Battery voltage is 12.3 ; with key in crank position getting nothing on purple wire on starter . Only voltage to starter is from ( + ) cable on starter . Went to the safety switch on both ends of the plug and the volt meter was showing 10.3 - 10.5 volts . Next up the purple wire on the ignition switch plug in the crank position 10.5 volts. Tomorrow I’m thinking bulk head connector to the starter . Are the connectors known to go bad ? This one is most certainly original 50 yrs old .
Larry I used the chart last night & it was very helpful . I left off at the bulkhead connector forward. The connector on my car is covered in what looks like undercoating . Hopefully will p/u where I left off ystrday .
On a 68, the ignition switch is mounted on the lock cylinder. So you have a purple wire coming off the back of the lock cylinder. When you turn the key to the crank position, the purple wire gets 12 volts and goes to the neutral safety switch. Theres a plug with two purple wires attached to the NSS. In and out. As long as the car is in park or neutral, 12 volts goes into the NSS and comes back out and off to the starter. So in the crank position, the two purple wires om that connector should have 12v volts. So if the wire exiting the NSS is live and the wire at the starter is dead, the issue is somewhere in between. But that doesnt make sense if the car ran fine before the dash cluster repair Did you try wiggling the column shifter while you crank it?
