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Calling on the Ford Brethern with this one...

Ignition! ..It usually precedes 'lift off' when they use it at Cape Canaveral, but here in Jacksonville, its a 'mystery' because I ain't got none. (redneckese) smiliegitrdone
Guys, I am at my wit's end with my 75 F150 Explorer. :headbang: She has a 360 a/t 2wd. Usually she runs like a top, until last week. It all started when I got in it to start it, and it wouldn't start. It would turn over, and over, and when I let off the key, it would act like it had a spark all the sudden. I took the Accel Super Stock coil out of it, and swapped it with the same coil from my 65. No good. Then I swapped the starter solenoids and it seemed to fix the problem. I drove it around some and then it cut off on me as I was pulling down my street. It acted like someone shut off the key. Thinking it was the solenoid again, I disconnected the pos cable tapped the solenoid, and reconnected the cable. She started right up. It almost seemed like it had to reset or something. Drove it the next day and same thing. I did the same thing and it worked...
Yesterday, I moved it around the house to moew my yard, and when I moved it back, it was fine. Went to start it again and nothing. It wont even start now at all even with the pos cable trick, which I don't know ever really did anything.
Today, it has spark coming from the coil, but not going to the plugs. The rotor spins, and checking the volts from the center of the cap on the inside, its like 24-26volts. I did that to see if the coil was taking the 6v and generating the spark needed to fire. If I check the plug against a ground so to speak, there is no spark between the plug tip and the block where I ground it, or no spark between the gap and diode. I haven't been able to see a diagram that I could understand or that shows any typical readings. I can't find anything on youtube either. I have seen a ton of people with similar problems but not exactly. If I can fix this with your help, I will gladly report back on here what worked for people to find in the future.

NOTE: After you crank it over long enough to check for spark, the NEG battery cable/post connection is rather warm. POS stays cool. I find that to be odd. The battery is less than one month old.

Could it be ground? Module?? What do y'all think it is? Thanks in advance. smilieFordlogo

PS - My son and I are going to ride to MEPS because he finds out his MOS today. He just joined the USMC yesterday! (I'm a proud papa) :beer: ... I will be back and working on this truck in the next hour or so to try out any suggestions y'all have for me.
 

DNFXDLI

The Token Canadian
Staff member
I would tend to agree with Buzz..also the cable that is hotter might be from either internal corrosion or a bad connection.
 
In addition:

:wavey: I forgot to mention, that before any of this started, I installed a new ignition switch (tumbler) from LMC, because I had lost my keys. Is there any chance the switch could cause this? Like I said, it acts as if someone just reached over and shut off the key when I was driving.
Today, we ordered a new coil (Accel Super Stock), new pick-up coil (Borg-Warner), New 8.8 wires (Accel), and new ICM (Borg-Warner) from O'Reilly. I pick them up in a couple hours. After I install this stuff, it should be fixed. Maybe... I figure there couldn't be much more wrong after that. The plugs looked good, and the cap and rotor are new as well.

I will reply back to see if y'all have any more suggestions. Thanks again for the two guys who replied. I really do appreciate the help.
 
LIFT OFF! Here's the scoop..

A friend of mine came over and looked it over with me. We ohm checked everything and volt metered the system again, and it still had no spark. After I told him that I put a new tumbler in, he asked if I had looked at the ignition switch itself. I didn't, so we took it all out, and that's when we found the basket case! I found where the guy who owned the truck before me had retro fitted a later model ignition switch and jumped wires and all sorts of crap! One of the wires was orange, and was actually so loose that it didn't make good contact. We made it fit tighter, and the truck started and ran good. When we pulled the wire off it died.
...After we switched the old crap with the right ignition switch, it started up and ran great. It keeps on starting and running fine. Problem solved!

Since its running again, I don't need to go further with it. However, I will go ahead and switch out all the ignition parts with the newer stuff anyway. ..New tune up for my old girl so she purrs like a kitten in a dairy farm!

Thanks for the input guys!
 

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