Oh f.... what has my truck done to itself?!

[godblessmud]

Welllll the Warwagon is currently DOA...

Heres the sad tale abbreviated since ive already told many of yall the long winded version...basically
Fuel pump relay goes bad, leaves pumps running for 6ish hours while im at work, drains the battery so low it reverses polarity (confirmed today with multimeter ) and shorts from the + terminal to the - terminal (or so it would seem...?) welding the - terminal to the - wire.

So i come out of work to find this heaping mess of morphedite bullcrap and spring into action (it was raining) I get the wire/terminal apart with a hammer and chisel and throw the old battery in the back, borrow one from the store and wire it into the + cable and *negro*rig the - cable with some spare wire (of an unknown guage lol) this gets the truck home..barely. it still had a hell of a time starting which makes me wonder if the short didnt fry my starter solenoid (or worse something in the ECU).

SO:
Confirmed casualties:
=Battery, - Battery cable, Fuel pump relay
Possible casualties:
=Fuel pumps, starter solenoid, ECU

So im going a week with no truck cause i cant work on it for any extended period of time till friday when i have a day off...till then im playing the bum rides game...

 

[Skandocious]

it still had a hell of a time starting which makes me wonder if the short didnt fry my starter solenoid (or worse something in the ECU).

Please elaborate on what it was doing when you tried to start it. The starter solenoid is basically a big relay, ie, a switch. Its either going to switch back and forth or not switch back and forth-- not much room inbetween.

More details about starting it?

 

[godblessmud]

sluggish like a cold morning diesel start...and with a sharp sound that reminded me of a vaccum leak except that it was definantly mechanical in nature...

 

[Skandocious]

sluggish like a cold morning diesel start...and with a sharp sound that reminded me of a vaccum leak except that it was definantly mechanical in nature...

Was the battery brand new? Slow cranking would usually indicate "NEEDS MORE POWEEERRR!!!"

If you're not sure if the starter solenoid is doing it's job-- turn the key to the on position and then short the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock terminals on the starter solenoid with a screwdriver (preferably with a plastic/rubber handle ) to bypass the solenoid completely.

Or if you want to keep cranking without letting the engine fire then leave the key in the off position while shorting the terminals. Might give you a chance to listen to the sharp sound more closely and figure out what it is.

 

[godblessmud]

great now i have to find someone to park on the clutch while i do this

 

[Brian_B]

Put it in neutral and set the E-brake hard. I did that when my solenoid was going out on the 56.

I also parked on a hill when I could...until I could get into town to get a new one.


If your E-brake does not work...just chock all the wheels well.

 

[godblessmud]

so...yellowtop or redtop?

yellow is deep discharge which would help with my accesories would it not?
red is solid CCA's out the arse though...

and the batt i used was brand new

 

[godblessmud]

Put it in neutral and set the E-brake hard. I did that when my solenoid was going out on the 56.

I also parked on a hill when I could...until I could get into town to get a new one.


If your E-brake does not work...just chock all the wheels well.

I dont have a clutch override installed yet...these newfangled machines like mine cant crank with the clutch out in stock form lol

 

[Brian_B]

Oh...I was not aware of that. Sorry.

I used to drive a civic once in a while that was like that.

 

[godblessmud]

no biggie, i wish it wasnt like that because i like having the option of running on the starter in emergency (ONLY) situations. High water Xings being the biggest use...if you stall out that starter cranking with the clucth in can be enough to get you out of serious trouble. and with the number of floods i have to go through here in SAR a clutch overide is high on my priority list

 

[Brian_B]

I am not used to all that new fancy stuff. LOL

I guess a toggle of some sort would be a good thing on that lockout (whatever it is called). I can see some situations where they need to be cranked with the clutch out.

That civic was annoying. I never remembered to push the clutch in before trying to start it. Neutral and one foot on the brake should be good enough. NOPE!

 

[Skandocious]

Scott I do believe that the neutral safety switch will be bypassed if you manually crank the engine by shorting the starter solenoid. One of the posts on the solenoid is +12v constant the other has a direct connection to the starter so there's really not way for the NSS to interfere with that connection.

Only one way to find out

 

[A_G]

deep discharge as in marine battery. NO

It will start once..then your done...

Go with redtop.

 

[Fellro]

I have seen damage from people hooking up the battery backwards, and it tends to have an adverse effect on starters, alternators, bulbs, dang near anything electrical... One Mazda actually was turning the starter backwards, popped the alternator, spark control, every bulb....

 

[dragogt]

Scott I do believe that the neutral safety switch will be bypassed if you manually crank the engine by shorting the starter solenoid. One of the posts on the solenoid is +12v constant the other has a direct connection to the starter so there's really not way for the NSS to interfere with that connection.

Only one way to find out

Why not completly bypass and or remove the NSS?

 

[NeXtras]

that sharp sound u got.. i bet its battery related...

kinda like crank crank click click crank crank crank start?

 

[masterbeavis]

When I brought my Centurion back from the dead, I mistakenly hooked up my battery backwards. Apparently the previous owner thought it would be funny to use a red battery cable for the ground, and a black for the positive. I did not catch on quickly enough. I was wondering why in the world the power windows were operating backwards, and the hvac was sucking air instead of blowing. It was hooked up wrong for maybe two minutes before I realized what had happened. No apparent harm was caused, but I do blow alternators once every 10K or so. I am not sure if that is the cause, or there is some other voodoo causing issues.

 

[Skandocious]

Someone say something about a Centurion?!

 

[Bloodhound]

Your truck will start if you jump it accross the cylinoid. The netural safety switch just cuts out the ignition switch. I have jumped mine under the hood many times. Just make sure it is in neutral.

 

[NeXtras]

u can just put the key into the accessory postition and jump across the startex.. something thats actually true in Gone in 60 Secconds, they did it on the T-bird