I just finished putting the dash together, put in a new stereo, went to hook the battery back up, and accidentally crossed the wires. Now before you tell me how stupid I am (I have already done that for you) in my defense the guy that owned the car before me put a black wire to the starter and a red wire to the block. I forgot that, and the wires were even laying red next to t black next to - so it seemed natural. Any way, everthing on the car works, except the starter. Nothing not even a click. I think its the soleniod, but i wanted to hear somebody elses opinion. Thanks guys.

fuse popped? fusable link.

I looked in the fuse box and everything looks good, where would the links be?

You just had the dash out. Did you look to see if you knocked a wire off of the ignition switch???

Doubt you did any damage ,and I'd check where you were working for loose connections.
Fig 7 & 8 are for 67 so heres wiring diagrams:
http://www.autozone.com/addVehicleId,1514304/initialAction,repairGuide/shopping/repairGuide.htm?pageId=0900c15280051873

I will check, but for those of you who have had a 67 dash apart know you can see any of the wires once the dash is together. The ignition switch does turn on the radio and accessories, so it should still be hooked up.

I have my money on the solenoid.

Wouldn't the screwdriver touching both posts on the solenoid with the key on work to check the solenoid?
Might also just check that the connections are tight while you are under there.
Cranked many a car like this when I was younger and the solenoid was bad.
A little awkward to get to. Ford's under the hood solenoid were really easy.
Hope this helps.

You have nuked the fusable link down at the starter. Get under the car and look very closely at the wiring where it attaches to the solenoid. These fusable links are there for just this purpose. The outer casing of the link may look O.K. but after you give it a gentle tug, you will see that the wire under the outer casing has dissolved. Make sure you disconnect the battery BEFORE you start exploring. Good luck and I hope this is your problem.

Yep, sounds like the fusible link wire is toast- you can buy them all day @ NAPA. Brawley

Ok, I just got out from under the car, I had to jack it up, then the headers were hiding the solenoid, but I was finally able to see what was going on down there. I dont see any fuseable links. They look like regular wires to me. Is there any senario where the pos would be going to the block and the neg to the starter? It seems like the way the wires were, thats were they were supposed to be. When I first started to put them on (what I thought was wrong, I got a little sparking from the wire when I tried to put it on, but now I get nothing, and when I turn the key, the lights dont even dim. Maybe they were supposed to be red to pos and black to neg?

The fusible link is not near the starter except on 72 and later.
It is the pigtail that splices onto the positive battery cable.
Get out the meter or test light and see if you have 12 volts at both terminals of the neutral safety switch during key in "cranking" position.
http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/chevymain1.shtml

If not, check at the "BAT" terminal of the horn relay AND at the terminal post on the core support behind the passenger's side head light.

Neg cable to engine
Pos cable to starter
(what ever the cable colors are)

BTW, it would help to state what vehicle you're working on.

I just looked again. there is no pigtail on this. It uses the black wire from the starter to the battery, has a little wire off of the pos terminal that goes to a little block behind the passenger head light. then a wire goes off of that above the grill, behind the horns, then into the firewall. There is another little "block" behind the drivers head light, and that also has power to it. The headlights come on, the radio works, the power antenna comes up (with a turn of the ignition key) just nothing for the start of the engine.

The "little wire off of the pos terminal that goes to a little block behind the passenger head light" IS the fusible link. (supposed to be anyway)
Do you have 12 volts at the "little block"?
Did you check for 12 volts AT the neutral safety switch?


http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/images/chevym1.jpg

67? :confused:

Where is the neutral safety switch?

Yes, I do have 12v at the little block

Yes, I do have 12v at the little block

how about at the neutral safety switch?

67?
automatic shift car?

Where is the neutral safety switch?

Where is the neutral safety switch?
Depends on what vehicle and type of tranny & shifter.

I just checked around the car again, and this is what I found. The two wires that come from the soleniod (purple and red, purple goes to coil) have fused together behind the engine. I pulled them apart, but still nothing. any ideas?

I give up

If you have an auto on the column, the NSW is mounted on the lower part of the column.

If you have manual shift then it is mounted near the shifter.

You probably fried the wires down near the starter. They should not be stuck together. Replace them.

:hurray:

If this is a 67, your negative cable should also have a smaller gauge ground wire bolted to the fender. I had this wire disconnected on my 67 once & my starter wouldn't crank. Once I connected that wire, it turned right over. Just a thought...

It is a 67, and it does have that wire, but it appears fine. I think my next step is to replace the wires off the coil that were fused together. The fusable link that everybody mentions just looks like a terminal stud mounted behind the passenger headlight. There is power to the stud, but the two wires that come from it go directly to the fuse box.

I just got back from advanced auto parts, and they bench tested the starter and solenoid for me and they are fine. I was looking at the horn buss bar diagram that was provided by DEAN and it appears the right bar has a fuseable link. The wire comes out purplish, then enters a ruber tube were the wire changes to red. The purplish wire also feels very lumpy. If this is a link gone bad, do they just pull apart, or do I cut it at the red end and re-attach to new link? Thanks for your patience with me, I feel I am getting closer to fixing this.

Never mind on the fusible link. I put the starter back in, replaced both starter wires, then connected the battery, and nothing. I then checked both ends of the fusible link, and they are both hot.

You might check the wires around the driver headlight area, near the horn relay. Years ago I had shorted the wires going to the starter (rubbed a bare spot in the wire). At the time it looked like a fuse link, which I just tied the wires together to get it started and get home.

I just noticed Dean posted a wiring layout and on it, it shows a fuse link at the horn relay which sends power to the dash/ignition.

Just the other week, I had an in-law put a battery backwards in his chevy pickup. He popped the fuse link, we turned the battery around and replaced the fuse link.

I did take out the fusible link at the horn relay, and replace it with wire, and still no help. I was just trying a few things, and noticed when I have the key "on" the coil starts to smoke from where the starter wire and ignition wire attach.

Since last post, I found the neutral safety switch had been bypassed, and plugged into a toggle switch (as well as the back up lights) but had not been reconnected to toggle when I reinstalled the dash. I reconnected them to the toggle switch. I still get nothing, but when I turn the ket to start, the lights do dim. The ignition wire going to the coil is getting smoking hot with the key in the on position for more than 5 seconds, and most of the white wire covering is either black, or burnt off. I have tried the toggle in all positions, and tested it with an ohm meter so I know which was is on.

take off starter and take it to advance for a free test.

I just got back from advanced auto parts, and they bench tested the starter and solenoid for me and they are fine. I was looking at the horn buss bar diagram that was provided by DEAN and it appears the right bar has a fuseable link. The wire comes out purplish, then enters a ruber tube were the wire changes to red. The purplish wire also feels very lumpy. If this is a link gone bad, do they just pull apart, or do I cut it at the red end and re-attach to new link? Thanks for your patience with me, I feel I am getting closer to fixing this.



I already did that, it was fine.

went to hook the battery back up, and accidentally crossed the wires.

Normally when you hook the battery up backwards, it blows the fuse links if they are still there.

Any way, everthing on the car works, except the starter. Nothing not even a click.

When the fuse links blow, you usually loose power to the dash etc.

We are all assuming it ran when you started removing the dash and that you put it all back in correctly.

Since last post, I found the neutral safety switch had been bypassed, and plugged into a toggle switch (as well as the back up lights) but had not been reconnected to toggle when I reinstalled the dash.

Now, looking at statements of burnt wirings, wires melt together points to a bigger issue.

Take a look at a wiring schematic and start tracing it out. Mike posted a link to some, check out the two 1967 diagrams, grab a test light and start testing.

That is where I am stumped. I cant leave the key "on" because it will burn the ignition wire. I think I have to fix that first now, and I dont know what would cause this.

Turns out the original problem was the nuetral safety switch wasnt plugged in, then when I crossed the terminals, I burnt the wires going to the soleniod, I replaced them, but since they had been replaced by previous owner in the colors of red and purple (purple now going to coil) when I reconnected the sol, it was reverse, causing the coil to smoke. I am happy to report the car purring like a 400 horse kitten. Thanks to all who gave there suggestions.

Did that to my 80 camaro once. had a red ground and black starter wire. Once was more than enough for me. got out a can of spray paint and fixed the wire colours so it couldn't happen again.

Did that to my 80 camaro once. had a red ground and black starter wire. Once was more than enough for me. got out a can of spray paint and fixed the wire colours so it couldn't happen again.


Did you ever consider actually putting the correct color wires in the correct place?



Rocky

Did you ever consider actually putting the correct color wires in the correct place?



Rocky

You're not suggesting I actually BUY the cables instead of using what I had on hand are you? Thats crazy talk.

The red cable was too short to reach the starter. ;)