Tried to start the truck today!

[dover]

My brother and I decided to see if we could get the B73 started today. I didn't know if the dipstick was correct or not so we changed the oil. 7 gallond hit the low mark just right, 9 was just a little over the high mark. I haven't done any rewiring since I put the 12v starter in so we decided to pull it around. I ran a jumper wire from the battery to the fuel shut off soleniod. Let me interject here that I am fairly good with vehicle electronics and my brother was a diesel tech at a ford dealer. This positive ground thing makes me feel like a total idiot. I would test the jumper with my multimeter and would have power until I hooked it up the the soleniod, then it would drop to nothing. I'm going insane.

We already had the blade running and hooked up, so we decided to tug it around and see what happened. We weren't geting any fuel, but the engine spun over great and made 95 psi oil pressure.

Any ideas on why it would drop the power like that?

[mowerman]

sorry dont remember much about the positive ground,,,but it must be a cummins????bob

[mack mhe9]

if your mad at it im sure on of us east coast boys would be glad to take it off your hands. i mean help fix it.

[Brian Blaylock]

Did you make sure the fuel filter is full if so and it has a cummins engine you might try putting the pump on manual and give it another pull but remember if it starts you will have to stall it out to kill it

[Freightrain]

A voltmeter goes in SERIES with a load. If you put it across something(parallel), it will read ZERO. An AMP meter goes in PARALLEL with a load.

Yup, sounds like it needs some fuel?? Did you pre-fill the filters?

Ya, better off to just give up and ship it back over East and we'll take care of disposing of that "useless scrapmetal" LOL!!!

[dover]

In all my haste I forgot to mention that it is a Cummins. I didn't check the filter, but I don't think it ever went without fuel. I started the truck about 7 or 8 years ago when I first tried to buy it. The filter sits next to the tank and the top of the base is below the fuel level in the tank. There is an abdondance of line(and elevation) from the filter to the pump. I will try taking the line off and filling it from the top if it is empty. As far as the electrical testing I was measuring from ground(the Frame) to the jumper and getting 8 to 10 volts(not htte best ground connection). With the tip of the meter still on the frame and the other on the jumper, I would touch the short pigtail coming off the soleniod and I would drop to 0 volts. This doesn't make sense to me. It should keep the same voltage unless it is grounding out. The soleniod has another post above the one with the wire, but I have been told it should be grounded throught the housing. I have attached a picture of it.

For you East coast boys, don't hold your breath, I'de spend a few hundred having a mechanic come over before I would ship my baby away. It took me almost a decade to convince the wife that I needed it.

Ben

[dover]

Sorry forgot the photo.

[dover]

I got an hour to work on it this afternoon. I pulled the solenoid off and tested it with a couple jumpers on the battery. If I ground to the other post the magnet is on strong. I pulled the plunger out to make sure it is free and everything looks good there. I put the solenoid back on the pump and ran a ground wire to the post that has been without a wire for quite some time. If I unhook it I get the same thing as the other day. It still doesn't make sense because I started it back in the day with it that way? But with the ground wire I now know it works. I spun the filter and had fuel flowing out the top so that shouldn't be an issue. I was going to remove the line from the filter to the pump, but I couldn't find my 1" end wrench. I am off Wednesday, so I'll see if I can get the line full of fuel and try again. Hopefully the weather will stay clear for a few more weeks!

Ben

[Milaca]

When I purchased my 1964 C-600, the only way to start it was by pull-starting it with another vehicle. I installed two new 12 volt batteries in series (its a 12 volt system) but didnt get any current into the cab, and the starter would not do anything even when I bypassed the solenoid. I removed the cables from the starter motor, cleaned the cable ends and terminals with fine sandpaper and reinstalled them. I bypassed the solenoid and it spun over great. Next I jumped the ignition switch terminal on the solenoid to the output terminal on the solenoid and it turned over then too (telling me that the solenoid was good). Next I removed the ignition switch from the dash, unplugged it, then plugged it back in. I turned the key and the starter engaged and the volt meter came to life! Apparently I had corrosion on the ignition switch terminals too. Though none of the electrical connections looked very corroded, they were just dirty enough to prevent anything from functioning.

[farmer52]

2-12 volt batteries connected in series gives 24 volts.

[palebird]

And to read amps you are in series, to read volts you are in parallel.

[39 Baby Mack]

farmer52 and pale bird are absolutely right about these two things!!

Ron

[Vladislav]

I also noted that strange but came into solution I missed something important in English language.

Although 'parallel' in Russian spells 'parallel'.

[Milaca]

Looks like I got my terminology wrong. I guess they are connected 'parallel' as the positive is connected to positive and negative to negative giving me only 12 volts.

[fifth wheel]

The manual fuel shut off screw overides the soleniod. As stated earlier you have to have a way to stop the engine, it is easier to get to the shut off screw if you remove the tach cable.

FW