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Electrical Help

1305 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Willystyle21
:help: I have a problem that I need someone to help point me in the right direction.

On a 65, 200 inline. The car will not turn over, nor will the headlights turn on. The battery is good I have tested it, and tried another. The alternator and voltage regulator were both replaced 2 weeks ago (the voltage regulator went out on me, and it seems like the same thing now that it was doing then.) I am not sure what to look at, someone told me that I should follow the wire from the starter back to the solenoid. Is that where I should start by checking that wire?
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Since the headlights will not light, you have a serious lack of voltage/current into the cars electrical system. Follow the battery cable to the solenoid and clean/replace any dirty/defective wires. The headlight draws power from a smaller wire that is connected under the positive cable connection at the starter solenoid, there is usually 3 wires besides the bat cable at the + side of the solenoid. 2 wires are about 14-16 gauge or smaller and 1 is a black with yellow tracer about 10 gauge wire. The blk/yel wire is the main power to the fuse panel, ignition switch and headlight switch, make sure it is good and has a clean connection. The other possibilty is a bad ground cable from the battery to the engine block.

I would start with the battery cables and then proceed to the smaller wires.
I would check both your chassis and engine grounds. If you take the neg lug off the battery you can use an ohm meter to check it to both the engine and the chassis . It should read little to no resistance, if that checks good , and you are positive that the battery is fully charged, then you might have a problem in the underdash harness with respect to the feed or ground.
Thanks Putt and Quick. It was the wire that ran from the starter to the solenoid. Even though the wire looked fine out the outside, no exposed wire or burnt spots, but the wire was old. I replaced the cable and it cranked right up. Thank you both for the help.
Wish I would have seen this earlier. Figured the wire was old and could not handle the amperage. Same thing happened on my 89 Bronco a year or so ago.
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