Starting problem on Series IIA

[tmckeon88]

My 1969 IIA 88" may have its problems, but it has always been a good starter. All though this winter it started flawlessly, usually on one or two rotations of the engine, but all of a sudden I turn the key to "on" and I get no charge light, no oil pressure warning light, no click, no nothing. I had my mechanic look it over and he replaced the points, which were fried for some reason, got it started, and I drove it home. But this morning, again, no response at all.


We replaced the points, condenser and rotor. Battery is charged, because when you get it all fiddled together it will turn over. No electrics working at all at this point. My question is - what should I look to next? This truck is negative ground and has the push button starter , although the ignition switch is the later type which has a "start" posiiton, which I never use. Could this be a bad coil? Bad starter button/solenoid? Starter motor works fine and has been rebuilt; alternator works fine. It seems like it must be in the ignition switch if EVERYTHING is dead when I turn it on.

Any advice from Lucas gurus would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Tom

[scott]

maybe the ign switch, might explain fried points. if you turn off your truck and malfunctioning contacts in the switch continue to send current to the points that could damage them. i believe that's why modern switches have accessories positions so you can sit and listen to the radio with the ignition off. if the contacts malfunction in the off then maybe they malfunction in the on also, such that when turned to the on position they don't make contact thus no oil light, no exciting of the starter selenoid etc.

[tmckeon88]

maybe I've solved it

I cleaned battery contacts, replaced the plug and coil wires, and discovered a somewhat loose battery ground strap, which I cleaned and tightened, and now it is starting. Can I actually be this lucky? Now my question is: my starter switch contacts are all gunky; would it be a good idea to remove all the wires, clean everything up, and reassemble? Am I supposed to use some sort of grease on those contacts to improve conduction?

[scott]

congrats on the easy solve. i would just use some brake/electrical cleaner on the starter button conections and check to make sure the contact holding screwsare tight.

[thixon]

If I had to guess I'd say the loose grounding strap was your major culprit. poor ground would cause all sorts of problems, and would certainly have caused what you described. Yes clean the crap out of the dirty contacts.

Congrats on finding it. Its always nice to get it going on your own. Now go give your mechanic some crap for missing it!

[TSR53]

Yes use dielectric grease on everything! We had some white tubes of it on sale two weeks ago or so. Loose ground connection will cause what happened, sounds like you lucked out.

[Momo]

I've had similar gremlins, Scott. Always seems to come down to contacts. I now clean all my contacts annually and give them a fresh coat of dielectric grease which also keeps all the bullet contacts from cold-welding into the connectors. Any good auto parts store will carry it.