1968 Rebuilt C4 is in but won't start or engage gear

franklinair · Feb 17, 2014

Don't make me come up there...

Neil

Ruppstang · Feb 17, 2014

franklinair said:
Don't make me come up there...

Neil

Neil that looks fantastic! I am glad you got it straitened out. :grin:

robert campbell · Feb 17, 2014

rvrtrash said:
I'm lost trying to follow this thread, so I'm going to start fresh. Hope no one minds or takes offense. With the battery connected, do you have 12V at the fuse block? There are two wires at the positive (battery) side of the starter solenoid. They have fusible links right at the terminals, so make sure you have power to the fuse block. If you do, and you have the plug for the tranny jumpered, you should hear the solenoid click when you turn the key to start. If not, make sure you have the red with blue stripe wire on the terminal closest to the battery terminal. It's easy to accidently swap the start and coil wires at the solenoid, and nothing happens if you do. With a meter, check to make sure you have 12V on the terminal, with the wire connected and the key turned to "Start". If you have 12V and the solenoid isn't engaging, you need to check to make sure the solenoid is grounded to the inner fender (mounting screws are tight), or else you may have to replaced the solenoid. If the solenoid is engaging and you don't have 12V on the small terminal closest to the starter cable, you need to replace the solenoid. If all that is good and you don't have 12V at the coil, you need to check the connection for the engine harness (flat plug with three wires), to see if you have 12V there. Let me know what you find and I'll try to help more. Again, sorry if I'm having you look at something you've already done.

Steve

About freaking time!!!! He has jumbered the battery side of the solenoid to the post closest to the battery side of the solenoid. He indicates the starter worked. So we jumped over the neutral lockout switch and he says he gets noting on the key in the start position. Sooooo we went to the ignition switch. He indicates he has continuity between the power terminal on the switch and the start with the key in the start position.

Left him with seeing if he has power to the switch and to check power across the switch vice continuity... much of the wiring is not together. No dash cluster and so on.....

njmop · Feb 17, 2014

Steve/Rob:

I don't think have 12v on the starter side of solenoid, but I will double check, hopefully tomorrow. Screwdriver turns car at the solenoid on battery side. I also don't think I have 12v on coil wire on 3 wire (flat) engine harness either. What could the issue be if I don't have 12 to the coil? I'd assume it's 12v when key is "on" or "start" positions.

I'll buy a solenoid this week too to see if that is potentially the problem.

I'll also double/triple check based on your recommendations...thanks.

Car has not been started in about 2 years, but I didn't change anything and labeled my connections fairly well and even made some better (or at least I thought). It ran well, but trans needed work so I pulled engine/trans and welded some new front panels, had trans rebuilt and I changed the seals on the engine. All is back in and connected except instrument panel and all exterior lights.

I am not a mechanic, but I've honestly fixed/repaired my cars all of my life and this issue doesn't scare me but it's driving me nuts. I spent less time pulling the motor by myself than tracking this "glitch".

I'll update again as I progress or digress.

rvrtrash · Feb 17, 2014

I wouldn't buy a solenoid until you're sure the solenoid is getting power. I hate throwing parts at something before finding what's really wrong. I forgot you got the solenoid to energize and the starter to turn by jumping over the terminals. You can eliminate the concern about the solenoid ground. To me, the first and primary issue is getting power to the solenoid through the start circuit wire. Without that, neither the coil or anything else matters, for now. It doesn't matter if the engine will run, if you can't get it to turn over. I'd focus on that one issue first. Find out if you're getting power to the fuse box. The same main harness wire that feeds it, eventually feeds the ignition switch. If there isn't power to the switch, you can't get anything out.

Rob, sorry it took a bit. I've been kind of busy, so let my internet time slack off. :wink:

Steve

CougarCJ · Feb 18, 2014

Do you have a factory tachometer dash?

njmop · Feb 18, 2014

I'll check the fuse box, assuming you mean on the inner firewall kind of near the steering column. I actually pulled a fuse from there to check it at one point, and they all look good, but I'll double check.

No factory tach.

Mosesatm · Feb 18, 2014

Do the rest of the electrical items work?

rvrtrash · Feb 18, 2014

njmop said:
I'll check the fuse box, assuming you mean on the inner firewall kind of near the steering column. I actually pulled a fuse from there to check it at one point, and they all look good, but I'll double check.

No factory tach.

Yes, that's the location. I just want to make sure you have 12V at the fuse block. The fuses aren't important at this point.

Steve

Mosesatm · Feb 19, 2014

Big yellow wire?

njmop · Feb 22, 2014

UPDATE:
So I've been looking at my wiring diagrams and finally wised up and looked at some of the hundreds of photos I took during disassembling the car. I noticed my alternator wasn't wired properly so I switched some things around and tried to start...CLICK CLICK CLICK!

We'll lat tee dah. A click and the seatbelt dash light! So, I then bypassed the neutral safety switch and RAH RAH RAH, the car turns!

Thanks for the help everyone, neutral safety switch and one badly connected wire (my bad) and I am back to sane. SO, now I have a brand new starter solenoid and ignition that I will be selling with some of my other spare parts as I complete this thing over the next days/months/years.

njmop · Feb 22, 2014

UPDATE:
So I've been looking at my wiring diagrams and finally wised up and looked at some of the hundreds of photos I took during disassembling the car. I noticed my alternator wasn't wired properly so I switched some things around and tried to start...CLICK CLICK CLICK!

We'll lat tee dah. A click and the seatbelt dash light! So, I then bypassed the neutral safety switch and RAH RAH RAH, the car turns!

Thanks for the help everyone, neutral safety switch and one badly connected wire (my bad) and I am back to sane. SO, now I have a brand new starter solenoid and ignition that I will be selling with some of my other spare parts as I complete this thing over the next days/months/years.

somethingspecial · Feb 22, 2014

njmop said:
UPDATE:
We'll lat tee dah. A click and the seatbelt dash light! So, I then bypassed the neutral safety switch and RAH RAH RAH, the car turns!

I hate wiring!!! Glad you discovered the problem. Keep up the good work.

rvrtrash · Feb 22, 2014

Glad you found the problem.

Steve

1968 Rebuilt C4 is in but won't start or engage gear

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