Charging system help

[$$$$robert]

I have a 72 f-250 camper special 2 wheel drive with a 390. When I turn the key, the starter turns slow or just buzzes. I have a new battery, it acts the same when I jump it from my dodge truck. I replaced the starter and silinoid, jumped it and it did the same, I left the jumper cables on for about 10 minutes with my other truck running and it started and ran fine. I shut it down and tried to start it again and it turned the engine a couple of times real slow and then not at all. The starter just buzzed. When I turn the key to start the engine, the interior light goes almost out. I tried to jump it again and it turned the engine slow and then buzzed. My battery cables and the cable to the starter and the silinoid all get hot fast when I try to start the engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[dcbullet]

How old are your battery cables? I had the same problem, couldn't even start the truck with a jump. I replaced all the cables and have no problem now.

[$$$$robert]

The cables are just a few years old.

[heep70]

Is your battery big enough (cranking amps)?

[FORDification]

Sounds to me like you need to clean your battery terminals and clamps and make sure they're tight, and do the same for the other ends of the cables. That is, make sure the positive connection to the solenoid is clean and tight and clean and tighten the engine ground strap's connection. Where IS your battery's ground strap going? It should be to the block itself, not to an accessory bracket or the frame.

The symptoms you're describing are indicative of greatly-reduced power getting to the battery. I've had the exact same symptoms before (solenoid clicking, interior lights getting very dim) and it was just dirty and loose clamps. They might appear clean but even a small amount of corrosion on them can interfere with power transfer.

[flyboy2610]

And just because the terminals are bright and shiny doesn't mean the cables are necessarily good.
They can actually corrode inside the insulatio and never show a sign of it on the outside.
I would have to agree with the others. Replace you cables.

[willowbilly3]

ou have a poor connection somewhere. Maybe a bad end on a cable or a bad ground. sometimes you can feel the connections after you try and the bad one will be hot. Clean all your cable ends and any grounds. If you have those clamp on battery cable repair ends, throw them away and buy new cables or solder on ends. The parts store will try to sell you too small of cable. You should have #4 but #2 or #0 is even better (smaller number, larger cable).
A teacher at vo-tech told me that you want you electrical connections just like your woman, clean and tight. (sorry girls) Remeber that and make it the first thing you do when you have an electrical problem.

[$$$$robert]

I changed the cables on the battery, on the starter, a new silinoid, new starter and a new battery, 650 CA @ 32 degrees. I took a wire brush and cleaned the terminals, and connectors, Sanded inner fender where silinoid connects, sanded block where neg cable connects got in the truck and it started right away. I went to my shed to get timming light and tack and dwell meter. Hooked them up and got in the truck and all I got was a clicking sound from the starter and the interior light went dim when I truned the key. What next?

[FORDification]

You say it started right up. How long did it run that time before you shut the truck off?

I'm thinking now it's not the starting system, but the charging system. If your alternator wasn't charging, then what little bit of power you had in the battery was just enough to start the truck, but then when it sat and idled it was consuming what little bit of power remained in the battery. When you shut it off and then tried to restart, there wasn't enough juice left in the battery to do the job. Have you had your charging system checked? Jumping-starting might work if you leave the jumper cables on for a while, but with a completely dead battery it might take a while....if the battery didn't go bad from being dead for a period of time.

Sounds like you need to do some diagnostics on the charging system. As luck would have it, I just posted a tutorial on that specific issue:

Charging System Troubleshooting

[shrektruck]

It may also be a draw when the truck is sitting. Do you have the dual battery setup? Mine was giving me problems when someone ripped out my battery. Put an ammeter between the battery and cable to see if there's a draw with the truck shut off.
I don't remember what it was (cruise control maybe) but I had a draw even with the truck off, The camper specials had power outlets in the bed and many had electric brake controls installed. That's what it was! My electric brake controller was drawing about 4-6 amps continuously.
Keep us posted, electrical problems are the pits.

[$$$$robert]

During all these electrical problems, I noticed my gas gauge quit working. There is an orange wire comming from the tank behind the seat and a black wire. The black is the ground to the cab, the orange goes into the plug the goes to the selector switch for the two tanks. I unpluged the selector switch and took a test light and grounded it and pluged it into the orange slot and the light goes on very dim and then begins to blink. Should I replace this wire with a new one or go into my headliner and try to follow the route of this wire to investigate the problem. Thanks, Robert

[FORDification]

No, that wire is supposed to have a pulsing feed. The sending unit operates off a 5-volt pulse supplied by the instrument panel voltage regulator. Take a look at the following page for info on fixing your fuel gauge:

http://www.fordification.com/fuel-sending-units.htm

[handywipe]

i Have a 71 f-100 also with the 390 and i have done everything but the darn thing still wont charge so i dunno what to do

[willowbilly3]

i Have a 71 f-100 also with the 390 and i have done everything but the darn thing still wont charge so i dunno what to do

Everything? Must have missed something. New regulator? What brand? Chck the connections and wires? Got juice to the alt.?

[$$$$robert]

Well I just went online and bought a short circiut finder. I was testing for an open circuit via the neg cable and neg post and I unplugged a group of wires ( the plug was infront of the silinoid) that went to the regulator and the alternater and the test light went out. I plugged it back up and the light came on. I shook the wires but there was no change in the light. Hope the short finder helps.
Thanks for all the help, Robert