I have a weird elec problem in my '71 half ton, LA 318. one day it would just not start and had absolutely no power, anywhere. a week later I went back and it started fine. I drove it about one half mile home and it had no power a little later when I tried to start it again. the wire was loose on the little post on the soleniod and I tightened it. the power drained out of the battery, most of it.
after I attached jumper cables it still had no power, then it tried to start a few times and then nothing, no lights, radio, dome light, absolutely dead. I cussed it out and the power came back, for a minute.
I really need to get this thing running, it is my farm truck.
Long white bar(maybe 3") on firewall? 2 red wires on each side? I checked continuity across the terminals and it was good, perhaps too good if it is a resistor.
femgineer wrote:Long white bar(maybe 3") on firewall? 2 red wires on each side? I checked continuity across the terminals and it was good, perhaps too good if it is a resistor.
Yes, it is porcelin. I dont know how to check them, but they are a cheap fix if that is whats wrong, I start troubleshooting there.
You may have another issue, although this one may take a while longer to fix. I've seen this happen a few times.
I f you have a bad ground it may be causing an overload in your electrical system that is causing an internal breaker in your battery to trigger. The last example I saw was when a mustang was brought in where the owner had restored and painted everything. In his case, the cigarette lighter was the cause. The cigarette lighter would draw a lot of amps, but since it didn't have a good ground because of fresh paint, there was nowhere for the electrons to go. The overload caused a breaker internal to the battery to trip and the vehicle would be without power until the battery reset itself, which could be anywhere between 5 minutes and 5 hours. I've seen the same occur when rust has prevented proper grounds.
Clean the battery connections, replace starter relay and ballast resistor, possibly remove starter and have it tested. Then I would start checking my connections and ensure that you have proper grounds.
Test your battery. Clean both posts and the cable
terminals. Make sure your negative cable is grounded
properly to the engine block. Remove the ground cable
that runs from the rear of the manifold to the firewall
and make sure contact points are nice and clean. Pull
the starter relay from the inner fender and clean up
the terminals and also the contact between the relay
and the firewall. See if you're in better shape after
these steps.
John
Still no power. I even took the ballast resistor apart, it is in great shape. I will get a starter relay on the way home, I took it off and cleaned all of the contact points and wire connector ends. It looked rusty all over...
ok, I replaced the starter relay and ballast resistor and took out the guage panel and tightened all kinds of stuff and fixed a wire that was frayed a bit and could have been shorting. my truck started after i got fuel back into the filter. it ran for about 2 or 3 minutes and started frying the leads on the horn (under the hood).
now the lights fluctuate more than ever, they don't start flickering until i have more rpms. I have a brand new regulator.
what gives? it does great until I rev the engine faster...
what gives with this? I need to drive my truck, it is my "farm truck" I need to go get some lumber and tin and feed.... stuff too big to haul in my honda civic... it will hold 2 bales of hay...
When checking the battery connections did you inspect the cables? They should be flexible and 'soft'. If stiff and hard they will have high resistance and can cause intermittent no-start, lights, horn, etc.
Fem don't count on the new V regulator to be good I have seen more then one be bad new still in the box , if your light's flicker on the RPM 's it sound's like the V reg not working like it should or you have a wire rub raw some where
cowboy Alvin Tx
67 w100 318 3spd
2005 Ram 2500 CC Diesel 4x4 lwb
LAND OF THE FREE
BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE
Thanks cowboy. that was the new ballast resistor, I think, it was jumping to ground on the right side. I made an adjustment (bent the metal tab at the bottom where it attaches to the truck)to get the terminals away from the body (top of the firewall) and solved that problem. Now, it didn't charge after running it for about 30 minutes, I rode around some, came home and parked her. the next afternoon the battery was dead. it is a pretty new battery and has correct water levels.
the funniest thing is that I jumped it off with a 4-cyl honda..... my other trucks never would jump with anything less than another 8-cyl...
Fem
that was the new ballast resistor, I think, it was jumping to ground on the right side. I made an adjustment (bent the metal tab at the bottom where it attaches to the truck)to get the terminals away from the body (top of the firewall) and solved that problem. Now, it didn't charge after running it for about 30 minutes, I rode around some, came home and parked her. the next afternoon the battery was dead. it is a pretty new battery and has correct water levels. 
