No start on J-10?? new batt. relay and starter?

[78J-10]

Ok i have been workin a little on the j-10 this weekend and when i went to move it the other day it would not start not even a click. I have been needing to put a new batt and starter relay in so i figured that it was the cause.

I replaced both and put a new starter on. tested bad at parts store. Put all this stuf on and still nothig not even a click again!!. :mad:

All the grounds are less then 5 months old and cleaned all of them today and made sure all the contacts are good. The dash lights dont come on all the time when i turn the key? Im lost on ideas?


Any help is welcome.

Thanks
-Mike

[tgreese]

Got power to the ignition switch? How about at the solenoid? If you jumper from the battery plus to the S terminal on the solenoid, the starter should run.

[HI-TECH REDNECK]

i agree with tgreese. sounds like a problem with the ignition switch or maybe this...

i changed the starter in my j10 cuz the drive gear was half ground off and wouldnt turn the motor over sometimes. well when i put the new starter in and tightened the pos (+) cable down on the starter, it rotated and grounded out against the starter case. this caused it to backfeed through the system and overheated my ground cable to the motor from the battery (killed the cable). i had dash lights but no clicky or start, even when jumping the solenoid with screwdrivers. i turned the cable end over so it couldnt ground out on the case and put it back together and i havent had a problem since.

luckily it didnt kill the starter, battery, or any other electronics in the truck.....

good luck.

[skeletor]

do you have fuel to the carb?

[HI-TECH REDNECK]

do you have fuel to the carb? doesn't matter if he does or not, its not turning over so its not gonna start even if it had fuel.

[skeletor]

yeah i just read it again didnt see the no click part. i would take an old battery cable and bypass the solenoid if it doesnt start or attempt to it would be bad cables, starter, or bad battery. do you have fusible links? i'd check those too.

[78J-10]

All cables and pos and neg cables are 5 months old. Ill try jumping from batt to the starter. How do i get to the ign. switch?

No cables are grounding out. all seem fine.

I have not checked the voltage at the relay. but will laters

any other ideas.

[DAHoyle]

I'm pretty confused by what you are describing. When you say dashlights, are you referring to the seatbelt light, alt light, etc, or are you referring to the lights which illuminate your gauges when the headlights are on.

Do your headlights come on? Do your wipers come on with the key in the on position.

It sounds like it could be your ignition switch, but it seems just as likely to me that it is the feed to the switch.

Doing a little troubleshooting will get you a long way.

The absolute minimum tool needed is a test light, and if you don't have one, then there is no point in even discussing what may or may not be wrong, unless you just want to keep replacing items till you get lucky. That can get expensive pretty quick.

Troubleshooting a 12 volt system is not rocket science. It is pretty much just plumbing, and if you think of it like that, then it is pretty easy. Wires are pipes, and switches are valves. As a very general rule, you should always have voltage at one side of a switch, and depending on whether it is on or off, you should see the same voltage on the other side.

[78J-10]

When i mean dash lights i mean the seat belt light comes on but not all the time. I have a test light but i cant get to the frigin ign. switch.

I know a thing or two about electrical systems tho i am not a pro. I more on industrial wiring then anything but any.


I will break out the test light. and go from there

Thank you.

[DAHoyle]

You shouldn't need to get to the actual switch. The connector at the base of the column should have all the connections you need to test. If I remember correctly, the actual switch is a slide type switch and is hidden up in the column, but connects to the rest of the harness at that connector.

i have all the diagrams on a 78 stashed somewhere on a removable hard drive. I'll see if I can find it and give you some things to check.

[devilnutzusmc]

I have an 85 j 20 that i am going throughthe exact same problem with. i replaced the starter, the solenoid, cables for the battery terminals and from the solenoid to the starter. I am curious if you have tried to start it in neutral? you might one to check your neutral safety switch on the transmission. If that is it look and be sure that you have a proper ground from the block to the frame itself. Have you figured out what is wrong? Let me know if you did something maybe it will help me
Semper Fi!

[travisrda]

I just helped one of my buddies fix his blazer yesterday and it ended up being the ignition wire going to the neutral safety switch came off and therefore there was no power going to the starter so you might check something in that area. good luck!!

[78J-10]

If it not a ground issue then i am going to try and make my own ign. switch. with a on.off swithc and a push button. Ill keep you guys informed.