The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Trucks talkin to me?

Took the truck over to Hemet today, and pulled into the drive thru lane at Carls Jr. Had to shut off the engine so I could hear the gal on the order speaker. When done ordering, tried to fire up the truck, no nada. Luckily, it was a downhill back out of the order lane into a parking spot. Went in and got my order and ate while pondering, "whats wrong with the truck?" After breakfast, went out and tried to start it again. nada, engine does not turn over. Then noticed I had left the headlights on, pushed the switch in and turned off the lights, and hit the starter, truck fired up just like nothing was ever wrong. When I got back on the roadway, noticed that the volt meter was only reading 13 volts,(one wire altenator) when it should normally read 14. Drove on, heading for home in Moreno Valley, and the meter started to read 14 volts and stayed that way all the way home. When I got home, the truck started several times, just like normal. I'm thinking my ground connections may need cleaning? As an aside, 3 carloads of people pulled in to see my truck, and all bought food from Carls. Maybe I should talk to the manager about parking the truck out front for a small fee! He could have a couple of magnetic signs made up to put on the doors!!

Sorry have to ask

Did you have the key switch off?

could be a bad battery connection

Bill

Headlights don't draw that much. Did it even turn over?

No, it did not turn over, untill I shut the lights off. I turned the key off when I pulled up to the order speaker, and then when done ordering, the starter did not turn over the engine. I pushed the truck backwards into a parkiing spot, and tried the starter again.
no dice. I went into Carls Jr and got my food, ate, and then went out to the truck and tried the starter again, it did not work. It was then that I noticed the headlight switch was pulled out, pushed it in, and then tried the starter and the truck started. The battery shows 13 volts on my multimeter. The key switch is also the starter switch on my '55.2 V8 (3 position, off, on, start/momentary) And, now in my driveway, the truck starts with lights on or off!

Warm in hemet today? Hmmm.. Even at 13 starter should turn. Do the volts drop below 9 when cranking? I wonder if the starter is just heating up. Sorry for rambling.

The starter did the very same thing, once, about a week ago on a hot day after an hour on the road. Hollow, you could be on to something there, I have another very good starter and new solenoid, I have been thinking of swapping out. Just been putting off as I want to rig up a remote starter switch under the hood also. Thanks!

No problem, every idea helps. Red and dad helped too. I know mine still gets toasty, but I drive like a fool and have headers. Best of luck to you and don't get discouraged.

Thanks Red58 and Dads50 also! I love my truck, I don't get discouraged for long.... Even today when it wouldn't start for a little while, all part of the adventure! And, since I am retired, don't have to worry about it starting at 4am in the morning....

Nice looking truck and drivetrain. Very clean.

Thanks Hollow, It was a quite a project to get this truck back to dependable driver status. The POs had just about driven the wheels off of it! I drive it nearly every day, and it has been very reliable. I need to go thru the starter and ground cables, it seems.

Sounds like maybe it could be the starter is getting heat soaked.
Is the starter close to the exhaust? Maybe a heat shield or a mini starter is needed. When the starter gets hot, it will act like you threw the battery away. When you let the truck sit and cool off, you can hit the key and it will start up just like nothing is wrong.

A bad cell in the battery will cause the same symptoms.

Yes Shaker, the engine is a 400 Pontiac and the starter is on the left side just under the exhaust manifold, and next to the steering box. Real tight in there and not much airflow for cooling. Cletis, battery is 4 mos old and shows 12.97 volts? just pulled the ground strap that goes from the cab to the bellhousing, this morning, and what a grimey mess! Cleaned everything to shiney metal and made sure connections are good and tight. There is a tiny ground strap also from the cab to head on the left side, I am going to add another strap from cab to head on the right side. It will be much easier to access and maintain. One thing with my alternator, when I start the engine, the voltmeter reads slightly over 12 volts at idle. When I rev the engine it moves up to 13 then 14 volts. It seems to stay at 14 volts when driving. Its seems as if the alternator responds to the engine rpm and then adjusts its output.

Mine did some similar things on a maiden voyage. Changed the starter and it was fixed! If it does it again before you change the starter, get under it an tap on it with a hammer, tire iron, etc. It works best if someone is available to try and crank it. It's probably a starter issue.

Capan, that's how one wire alternators work. When you first start the engine you have to rev it a bit to excite the alternator to make it start charging.

I run the high torque mini starter, still heats up on me, but I just deal with it. Gonna try a heat shield next time I have the drivetrain out.

Capan, a remote start kit will also help with heat soak problems.
http://www.madelectrical.com/catalog/st-1.shtml Check out the rest of their site, there's a lot of good information.

Brian

Shaker... Mikey likes it! That remote solenoid kit looks great. Also will be real easy to add a remote starter button with it. Thanks for the link! As to the alternator, thats kinda what I figured, but as none of my other vehicles behave that way, (Except for maybe my Mercury outboard) kinda hard for me to understand that. If you let the motor idle after starting, without blippng the throttle, the alternator will not charge... Fat chance of that , gotta let the neighbors enjoy the tune of those glasspacks! 46gmcpu, I can remember one of my buds, on the way to the Colorado River, on the side of the road, in the desert, 100+ deg., under his 80s Chev pickup with 454, banging on the starter with a tire iron!

Just a update on the hot start problem. Cleaning the ground cables and adding another one from cab to engine seems to have worked. Good as gold now!