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Grounds with fenders off

4505 Views 32 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Coppertop, 
J
Hey everyone- I have the front clip off and have finished rewiring the front harmess... Since the fenders are off I grounded the neg battery to alternator bracket and them to radiator support where the lights are grounded...

My question is when I connected the battery the right turn signal turned on and stayed on....( key was off)..

Does the fact that I grounded it to the same ground as lights rather than fender caused this???


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J
Sorry - guess I shouldve slept more...( i used a test light)

I have 12 volts when the key cranks at the starter solenoid.
I do NOT have 12 volts at the neutral safety switch
I do have 12 volts at ignition switch.

So am i right to assume the neutral safety switch is bad?
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F
Somethings not right. You can't have 12v at the solenoid if you don't have 12v both side of neutral safety switch. If you do have 12v at the solenoid it should crank over, you don't need anything else.
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J
I'm sorry for the confusion... No power at solenoid... No power at neutral switch but power at ignition...
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Coppertop
jbrockman said:
I'm sorry for the confusion... No power at solenoid... No power at neutral switch but power at ignition...
Click to expand...
So you don't even get a test lamp to light on one side of the neutral safety switch? You should get the purple with white stripe wire light a lamp in in crank position.

Here's how it works. When you hold the key switch all the way forward to start the car, the ignition switch shorts the incoming power--12 ga. red wire to the outgoing purple with white stripe wire. The purple/white connects to one side of the set of contacts on the neutral safety switch at the lower top of the column by the firewall. If the switch is good and adjusted properly, that power is then sent to the solid purple wire. ----Assuming the transmission is in Park or Neutal. The solid purple wire is then fed thru the bulkhead connector where it mates up with the engine harness solid purple that connects at the "s" terminal on the solenoid.

Usually people have issues with the Neutral safety switch out of adjustment. Yes, the switch can go bad. But you need to verify you at least have 12 volts heading into the neutral saftety switch, otherwise that indicates a problem with the ignition switch.
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J
Once again I apologize for the confusion.. I'm sure it's frustrating trying to help when I don't explain things right..
So I repeated all the tests... ( I don't have a purple white wire they are both purple but AAW stamped each wire with the name on it) here are the results..

Big red wire labeled 12 v battery going in to ignition switch has power at the ignition switch...

Purple wire labeled "starter solenoid" has power at the ignition switch with key turned on and goes to neutral switch.. Where it attaches to the neutral switch- it has power with key turned to run ( crank the engine).

The other purple wire that comes from firewall ( labeled neutral safety switch) goes from firewall to neutral safety switch) has no power at the neutral switch...

I hope that explains it better... Once again I sorry for the confusion and appreciate the patience as I try to learn...

What should I do now? Is there another test I need to do to help diagnose the problem???
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Coppertop
No worries Jeff...sorry, on the wire colors, I keep forgetting you have an update harness so you wouldn't have the purple with white stripe.

You need to try to adjust your neutral safety switch. It is most likely out of adjustment. You can adjust it side to side on its mounting so its lever is in the correct position--this is for column mount automatics.

To prove the switch has the issue you can always do this:

Make sure for safety sake the car's transmission is physically in the 'park' position.

Unplug the purple wires. Make a test jumper wire and short the purples together. The car should start when you try the key.

Just do this as a quick test. Don't leave it like that as there is a reason it is called a "neutral SAFETY switch" so the car can't be started in gear.
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J
Copper top - thank you so much.. So how do I ensure that the transmission is DEFINATELY in park as you say? Is there a way to tell rather than the gear indicator on the dash?


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Coppertop
Jeff,

It more safety then anything. I've been assuming this whole time you have a column shift automatic, correct?

Just turn the key "ON" so it unlocks the column, then shift through the whole range of gears and then shift it back into park. That's all I'm saying. Moderator Dean's son's friend was killed when the vehicle he was working on was left in gear and he shorted the starter to activate it and the vehicle rolled over him and killed him. :(

Anyhow, the thing to try is short the purple's together and see if the car starts.
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J
UPDATE: great news- when I did the jumper wire as copper top explained- the car turned over!!! I hope that this entirely too long of a thread helps someone else like me who is new to this exciting hobby..

Thank you so very much to everyone who chimed in: especially "Finally" and "Coppertop"... I truly could not have done it with your patience and guidance...beers:


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F
Good news, glad you got it sorted out. Now you just need to adjust the neutral safety switch or possibly replace it if it's bad. Hey, and you learned a lot about your car in the process.
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J
Final update to close the thread...I tried to adjust the neutral safety switch and went the full range of motion and still nothing...So bought a replacement switch and VOILA..Car starts right up....Thanks to everyone for your help, support and patience....I have learned a ton from you guys....Next stop - pulling the engine and rebuild the 350 to 383....Wish me luck...See you on the engine part of the forum cuz I am sure I will have a ton of questions.........jb:beers:
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jbrockman said:
UPDATE: great news- when I did the jumper wire as copper top explained- the car turned over!!! I hope that this entirely too long of a thread helps someone else like me who is new to this exciting hobby..

Thank you so very much to everyone who chimed in: especially "Finally" and "Coppertop"... I truly could not have done it with your patience and guidance...beers:


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Click to expand...

Some of these explanations were great.
Sometimes hard to grasp exactly what one is trying to say, but like this issue, if no one loses patience, it will get sorted out.
:beers:
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Coppertop
Jeff,

Glad you got it resolved. Thank you for the update as well. I know you were probably getting quite frustrated at times, but the key is to simply work out a plan to "divide and conquer" when dealing with circuits. You did and it is now fixed.

:beers:
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