I had my son help me push the floor starter while I watched the headlights. !st off the headlights wouldn't work and then after trying to figure out why for 10 minutes they came on. With the headlights working they immediately go out and won't come back on if the floor starter is pushed. I'm guessing there is a ground issue, because if there was a dead short the wires would start to cook. I put a meter on the lead to the starter and I couldn't get a steady reading. The voltage was bouncing around from 2 to 3 volts. If I could get that to stop and give a steady reading the headlights would come on again until the starter was tried and then nothing would work again. The hot wire to the cab comes off that starter connection. I'm guessing that is where one of the problems is and the other is where the cab electrics ground. I think I'll check the engine grounds too. Maybe the engine is stuck and the contacts to the starter burned. I wasn't able to try to wrench the engine over. I'll try that tomorrow. Whoever was working on this truck before looks like they were holding a hot wire to the coil wire with there fingers to move the truck around. If it sounds like the wiring is a mess.... it is.
I need to get it running soon and when it gets to that point where it might start, I'll twist one of my sons arms to make a video of it.
The truck came from a dry climate and smelled bad enough from mice living in it for 10 years or more, but now since I brought it home to this wet rainy climate it is the worst smelling truck interior imaginable !!! I have smelled bad mice infested trucks before and this one is easily the worst. I can't put it into words how bad this is but I do know that the truck will rust out in short order if I don't get it cleaned soon.
