uhhhh, yeah, truck doesn't start. drove into town, had it parked for an hour, came back and it cranked fine, no odd noises except that it kept cranking and didn't even try to fire like there's no fuel.

so i'm thinkin maybe it's the fuel shutoff solenoid?? my dad's truck did the same thing a few years ago and that's what it was. i've never messed with one, is there a rod/lever or something I can physically push to see if it's the solenoid not actuating?

i'm having surgery on friday taking the titanium rod outa my femur and I REAAAALY need to try to get the truck going before then. I won't be able to work on stuff or ride my bike for a while cause of that and cause it's cold and rainy. PLEASE help if you know!

on a side note, to pull the rod out they're going to put me out, cut another hole in my hip and screw a big slide hammer into the top of the rod that sticks out the top of the center of the femur a little and they're going to hammer like crazy, should come right out! the rod is 18"x 1/2", hip to knee. some advice: don't break your femur(that's why i have a big truck now).

jon

 

turn the key on, locate the solenoid (near intake manifold), and try pushing up on the solenoid arm. if it stays up, check the blue wire at the battery connector. the solenoid has 2 windings, one is a 'pull in' winding which is actuated when the key is in the crank position... it takes extra power for the solenoid to initially pull the fuel shutoff open. the 2nd winding is 'hold in' while key is in run position. the blue wire goes through a relay then to the solenoid. hope this helps, and hope your surgery goes well.

 

thanks i'll try that

 

Its comin that the 70 amp relay's points burn and quit opperating the solinoid, I've them sell in the after market a lot less than dealer , One source may be Larry Bs , myself I just took the cover off the relay and filed the points , just like the old days when we used to file the points in the distributor , when the truck would die at an idle.

 

well it is in fact the fuel cutoff not opening. john i think you're right about the contact points being burned because i have a loose bat cable and it's been having trouble starting...i turn the key to start and sometimes see the posititve connector throw a spark off and then the lights go dim cause the arc made the bad connection worse. wiggle it, good to go. already did a search and got the Napa PN for the cable ends and will be doing that with new 2/0 cable SOON, after that I'll clean the relay points.

thanks for the help.
jon

 

If you're having connection problems at the battery it very well could be the blue wire at the driver's side battery positive has a bad connection.

 

that one's a bad connection for sure. every wire on the driver's side pos post is a horrible connection. the blue wire actually has some solder out the bottom and the insulation is melted right by the connector. i pulled the cable off that goes to the starter and looked underneath and part of the insulation is turned black from the cable doing a little arcing inside, i guess the corrosion ate pretty far into the cable.

i won't be driving my truck for a while as i'm taking lots and lots of vicodin due to my surgery friday so it'll be a while until i make the new cables up. i did get the military style ends from napa, they're great, and i have some really heavy duty closed end ring terminals for 2/0 cable to the 3/8" connection. soon.

jon