I have a 77 Maverick and it is not firing. I have tried it with my current battery and now I have a brand new one, new starter, new solenoid, and new coil. I get two or three good cranks and then nothing no clicking no sounds at all. Does anyone have an idea what it could be? I dont have a ground strap from the block to the frame would that cause the problem? also it is a 250 with a C4 Thanks
Possibly a cable problem, negative you can check by using one jumper cable lead from the battery (-) to the engine block. Then try and crank it to see if it still does it. You could have voltage drop(high resistance) in any of the cables or solenoid. If you know how to use a volt meter, you can isolate where the voltage drop is occuring.
I had a similar problem. At first it would start then it wouldn't. When I was working on it late at night and tried to start it. I saw a huge spark and it was the ground cable sparking to the radiator. There has to be a ground strap from the block to the frame/body. Hope this helps.
Hooked the ground strap to the block and frame got two sluggish cranks then nothing. when i turn the key nothing happens or I get two or three sluggish cranks. any ideas?
won't crank. Hello, 1. pull the plugs and turn the engine by hand 2. If turned O.K put the plugs back in 3. run a jumper wire from the positive post of the battery to the positive side of the coil, 4. Jump the starter solenoid, battery side to first small post, Car should start right up, 5. If start and run remove the negative battery cable. When the engine stop remove the jumper wire from the battery to the coil. 6. let us know if this works.
I'll go through my process for you real quick. I don't know what you know so I'll just say it step by step, so pls don't take offense. All readings on 0-20 volt scale. Keep in mind that any voltage dropping anywhere other than the load(starter) is not good. Energy is wasted being pushed through electrical resistance(bad connection, corrosion, etc). Your starter should get almost all of the battery's available voltage to operate properly. Some areas to look at good are between cables and metal. Clean all of these well of paint, scale, corrosion(rust) 1. Battery voltage: meter leads on pos and neg battery post, no load 12.6 volts. crank the engine, shouldn't drop below 11-11.5. If it does either the battery does not put out enough current or the starter is mechanically dragging. engine siezing can cause this too but I'll stay on electrical for now. 2. Voltage drop ground side: one meter lead on ground post(not cable), the other on engine block, should read no more than 0.5 volts during cranking (make sure it's cranking or at least trying to) If the voltage reading is higher than 0.5v you will have to isolate where the voltage is being dropped. example: post to cable, terminal to block, terminal to cable, etc. If it is below 0.5v, the ground is not the problem. 3. Voltage drop positive side: one meter lead on + post, the other on the terminal where the main cable attaches to the relay(solenoid). Attempt to crank the engine looking for the same spec: below 0.5v is ok. If ok, move lead from the battery side of the relay to the starter side. (still on a big terminal, just on the opposite side) Attempt to crank, if below 0.5v, move that same lead to the starter main lug leaving the other on the battery. Again, attempt to crank the engine. I have seen up to 1.0v drop on the positive side for these older cars but it would have to be much higher to do what you're describing. 4. If voltage drop is still under 0.5v for these circuits, time to test the starter motor. Move one meter lead to starter positive main lug, the other to the case of the starter, preferably where it bolts to the engine block. Attempt to crank the engine. If total voltage drop is close to your base battery voltage, the starter motor is dropping all of the available voltage and it should easily turn over the engine. If voltage drop is good but the starter won't turn the engine over, I would try to turn it over by hand to verify the engine spins over by hand. If it turns over by hand, pull the starter back off and bench test it looking for any runout between the shaft and housing end, or have the place that sold it to you test it again. I've had some bad ones out of the box. Hope this helps
Great steps! But I think you are safe with a battery voltage down to 10V during cranking. Especially on an older (but still good) battery. GM allows for 9.6V during cranking... I know I know. Its just for comparison.
You're probably right on an older car. Newer (EEC and up) cars suffer electronic shut down at 9.6V. I didn't know what his set up was exactly, so I shot a little high just in case.
I haven't tried checking with the meter yet, but i was wondering if the timing being off could cause sluggish cranks. Also I forgot to mention it backfires through the carb sometimes.
It's possible, I suppose, but I would think it would have to be way off. Timing lock with a normal compression engine isn't that common, but it can't hurt to check it. You could also disable the ignition by unplugging the coil to see if it will spin over easily.
I had the same issue with my car. Wouldnt fire ended up being the ground running to the dist and the dist cap was put on backwards it would spit gas out of the carb and back fire. Check both and Let me know what happens.
