Good afternoon I bought my sweetie a 1965 Ford thunderbird 390 cubic inch will not start, solenoid clicking when ignition is at the start position. I have verified my neutral safety switch/ Battery has 13.3 volts/ 12 vdc when key switch is at start position at S terminal at the solenoid/ 12 vdc at I terminal of solenoid when key switch is at the ignition on position. I have 13.3 vdc at the solenoid in-side of the battery cable terminal, when the key switch is turned to the start position, I have 8 vdc on the out-put side of the solenoid battery cable to the starter, instead of the 13-12 vdc that I should have. I have already changed the solenoid and the starter with the same results. Early on I have also cleaned all positive and negative termination points, any Ideas of what I may have missed?
I’ve had to replace the starter solenoid on my early 70’s Ford truck once or twice before, 302, but similar starter circuitry config I expect.Same symptom, click but no crank. Its contacts had worn & wasn’t passing the full battery voltage to the starter. There’s another issue w/that part you may not be aware. It gets its ground via the mounting hardware. So make sure it is mounted to a good ground.
Other possibilities, the engine may not be rotating freely, or the starter motor itself needs renewal, either replacement of the entire unit or of the final drive mechanism. Frustrating problem. if you have a manual trans, park facing downhill I guess until solved. Best of luck.
My truck retains its original starter motor, never repaired or replaced in 50+ years. I wish I could say the same for my Corolla … lol …
Nice… thank you, George, ya I made sure and cleaned the surface with 120 grit sandpaper at mounting location, along with cleaning and adding dielectric grease on other connection electrical points related and nonrelated to our issue, your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Sure sounds like you are on the right track. You are most welcome. diy’er opinion is all.
Mugsie:
When you’re trying to start the car, what is the voltage on the output of the solenoid, where the heavy cable goes down to the starter?
Take a look at the negative battery cable. If it looks like it’s been on the car since day one, change it. There are probably two lugs on the cable. One connects to the fender well and one to the engine. The fender connecton could be corroded and the cable insulation could be cracked all over. This makes the cable almost useless.
output side 8vdc.
Yes, I have replaced the neg post clamp early on because it was broken. and disconnected, cleaned/sanded the ring connector/ and engine block, cable looks good.
Also I cleaned the Neg cables at the frame termination point. thank you for verifying.
When I put 12 vdc directly to the starter bypassing the solenoid the Bird starts easily, i have 12dvdc at S and I at the solenoid posts when key is in the on, and the start positions, solenoid has a good ground I verified with my meter. Thank you, fellas,…
That is a clear indicator of a solenoid problem. Burned contacts or bad ground. Jump actross the solenoid and see if it still starts right up. If it does, the solenoid is the problem. If it doesn’t, that cable to the starter is likely bad. Check its resistance.
After so many years you can’t even trust the ignition switch. Those don’t cost much and generic ones are an easy replacement. Before doing that I would replace the two cables that have been mentioned. They are inexpensive too and sometimes the corrosion goes four inches up the end of the wire. You can test the ground wire by using jumper cables. Clamp one to metal on the engine block and to the body/wheel well and the other one from the block to the negative terminal. I did that once on a 73 Comet and then replaced the ground cable when it started. That was after the blue smoke blew away. What an oil burner.
Have you tried Jumping the solenoid to start the car, I have done that on friends fords with an old pair of pliers. If that works, it means a bad starter or not getting a sigal from the ignition switch but I think the clicking means the trigger wire is working.
Next, try grounding the solenoid base to the engine or negative battery cable.
the engine may be seized.
Hi Mugsie:
When cranking, with your 12v at the solenoid input and only 8v at the output, that’s an indication of a bad solenoid.
And that is especially reinforced by the fact that the car starts fine if you bypass the solenoid, as Mustangman noted.
The sequence of repairs may tell us something. If, for example, the starter was bad and drawing too much current. If you changed the solenoid, tried starting a few times and then decided to swap out the starter- the new solenoid may have been damaged in the process. But it does appear the solenoid is not fully functional…
That seems lower than I’d expect with the key in “start”. I’d be expecting a minimum of 10.5 volts. Since you’ve already replaced the solenoid::
- Maybe the replacement is also faulty
- Maybe the starter is faulty and drawing too much current
- Maybe the engine isn’t turning as freely as it should
- Faulty ground connection somewhere
Other ideas, since it starts & runs ok when bypassing the solenoid, my guess is the first one. To verify the engine is turning freely, you could try rotating the engine manually, ratchet/socket on crankshaft pulley bolt etc. To assess the starter, you could measure its current draw and compare to spec. (Current is very high, maybe 100+ Amps, so requires special equipment, don’t try this w/a shop DVM.) To assess the faulty ground theory, you could measure the voltage directly at the starter motor, probing between the starter power input terminal, and the starter case.
Too many guesses and maybes? Take your T-Bird to a shop. Best of luck.
Starter solenoid is so cheap, so easy to remove, and so common a problem, I’d replace it just to see if it helps.
Are we talking the solenoid or the relay? Didn’t ford use a relay under the hood and the solenoid on the starter. I can be leave the relay would be cheap and easy to replace. But I’m a Gm guy. Only owned one ford product.
I don’t think there’s a solenoid on the starter motor. If like my Ford truck, there’s only an engine compartment starter solenoid.