73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => 73-87 Chevy & GMC Trucks => Topic started by: Spool on January 06, 2017, 08:57:21 pm
-
Hey Guys.
Little frustrated on this one.
I have a 73 C20 Pickup.
It's been colder lately, 50degrees at 6am. So a few cold starts have been taking some time over the past few weeks.
Today, I park it and come back 45 minutes later it the truck won't start.
Turn the key and nothing happens, not even the heater fan.
Thinking it's my battery. I call for a jump.
He comes to jump and tells me it may be the starter.
So I tap the starter with a hammer as he turns the ignition; and nothing happens.
A moment later, he's still fidgeting with the ignition and gets it to start.
He's convinced it's my ignition switch, but I'm not sure because my radio wasn't turning on which does not need the ignition as it is hard wired to my battery with a killswitch.
Any ideas as to what could be the problem?
The start is about 2 years old and the truck turned on after tapping it with a hammer; not during.
The battery is less than a year old from autozone.
The cables to the battery aren't in the greatest shape and need to be replaced as well, but the contacts are fine.
My thinking is start with the ignition switch as it is the least expensive and work from there to the starter.
But would explain not having my radio power or interior light switch not working if it was the ignition switch?
-
what about the wires on the starter? but check all your connections at the battery and starter and grounds
-
I will. The starter is tucked behind my headers pretty well. Anything specific I should be looking at or just clean connections? I'm afraid I might not be able to get to it without taking somethings apart.
-
It sounds like, (if your battery connections are clean and tight,) you have either a bad ground connection on the block, or just a plain bad ground cable.
-
Interesting.
I did swap the ground on the battery about a month ago.
The cable was short where it was originally grounded (above the headlight) so I drilled a new hole above the tire; closer to the negative terminal.
I'll try swapping that back.
-
My guess would be the battery but
Next time you remove your starter,grab a cheap external ford solenoid from rock auto.#ss 581 part number,$17.
You'll need an extra battery cable also,works tremendous,no hot start problems,and your starter connections are right on the fenderwell.
Easy to test or even use a bump starter as the connections are right there.
http://www.oldengine.org/unfaq/solenoid.htm
(http://www.rockauto.com/info/154/SS581_FULL.jpg)