Starting Issue

[1977 Bronco]

I have a 1977 Bronco with a 351W and C-4. Everything is stock on the truck except for that. I was in the process of connecting the battery cables back up to the starting solenoid...and I beleive I hooked it up wrong the first time. I found a wiring diagram for it. According to the diagram the possitive goes to the left part of the solenoid and the ground from the battery to the engine block behind the alternator and the starter cable to the right side of the starter solenoid. When I got the truck it had a ground cable going from the engine block behind the alternator to the passenger side inner fender well fastened to the fender just a few inches or so from the starter solenoid. This was not shown in the diagram but I did install one back on the truck. The truck started up smoothly back when I got it but since then I have done some work on the engine bay and had disconnected everything and stripped the engine bay and now I am having problems when I try to start it with the key after I have re-connected everything. If I jump the starter it will turn over fine and start. But when I hook the starter cable to the starter solenoid (Negative Side) on the inner fender near the battery and then try to start it with the key something makes clicking sound over and over again as the engine slowly turns over until I let go of the key. It sounds like the solenoid clicking like when you don't have enough juice to crank it over, only it just keeps clicking as the engine slowly turns...or barely turns. It only does this if I have the starter hooked up to the solenoid. I have replaced the solenoid and regulator twice and the battery is newer with a good charge and 800 cold cranking amps. Should easily turn it over with the key. I have even jumped it with a 12 volt boost charge on my battery charger and tried with the same results. I am thinking a bad ground or maybe something more serious.....sorry for the long story but I wanted to go into detail about my problem. Any help would be appreciated....thanks

 

[Bully Bob]

Your 1st discription is correct...in that the solenoid is ALL positive. (+ side of bat. ...to solenoid... to starter.) & Neg. to eng. block.

Then later on you say ..."I hook the starter cable to the starter solenoid (Negative Side) on the inner fender near the battery" Again, solenoid is all pos.

Assuming you mis-stated that, not actually hooking anything "ground" there.

Could be a faulty key-switch -or- the wire running to the starter fr. the key switch.

HTH

Bob

 

[steelbronco]

Not having a properly grounded system will definitely cause you problems. Make sure you don't have paint or even rust under your connection points and they are good and tight. Sometimes these simple things can cause big headaches