Okay, I disconnected road draft tube and installed pcv valve, and tied it into trans vacuum on intake. I installed a set of gauges; oil pressure, volt meter and water temp. I removed oil pressure sending unit and installed line for gauge, and installed water temp probe into water jacket. Spliced into dash lights for the gauge lights and grounded them under dash. The positive on the volt meter was spliced into a wire under the dash, not sure which one but it does not have power until key on in the on position. It is also grounded under dash. Here’s the problem. Tried to start car and nothing…. Does not crank, click or anything (car started fine before this project). I have headlights, dash lights, gauge lights, turn signals, stereo, and wipers and when key is on, volt meter is reading. But still nothing when I turn the key. I put battery charger on, thinking I left something on and it drained battery, it showed the battery was low. The battery is five months old. When I turn the key, charger goes to fully charged. I disconnected positive cable and clamped tester on end and touched probe to end and there is no light on at all. Does not seem to be anything draining battery. Went back this morning and reconnected charger battery shows fully charged. Still nothingI did have a problem about a month ago when I turned to start the car, I turned the key and nothing happened, moved the key a few times and started right up. No good this time. Any help would be appreciated.
Thats what I was thinking also. I have a new switch coming tomorrow will install on sunday.Got my fingers crossed.
Or are you sure its in park all the way,if you trans has a neutral switch.Its not hard to hot wire it and jump the starter to see if it will start..........YG
Very good point! Neutral safety switch must be in NEUTRAL. THERE IS NO PARK POSITION ON A POWERFLITE! Question: Has this been converted to 12v neg ground? Reason I ask is that 54 Chryslers are 6V pos ground systems. If it has not been converted then how does the voltmeter read correctly, that is unless you can reverse the leads. There is a starter relay on the inner left front fender, adjacent to the battery. It should have a relatively short battery cable to a big post. Then there should be a small wire on the relay too. If you jumper the small wire to the big wire (coming from battery, not the one going to starter), the engine should crank. If it does, then you have an issue from the small wire on the relay to the neutral safety switch, the neutral safety switch is bad or misadjusted or simply trans is not in neutral. After that your ignition switch may be bad, could not be getting battery voltage to it, or the wiring from the switch to the neutral safety switch is defective.
I was 10 yr ahead of the time frame,thinking 64 with push button lol.Only park you have is the drum on trans if im back on earth now,but then again i may not be.Thanks for the great point..........................YG
Is your car 6 volts or 12 volts? Is it a positive ground or a negative ground? Without this info, anything we can suggest may short out the entire system. Since you do not know what wire you connected the volt meter to, that could be the source of your problem. Maybe you connected it to the wire from the switch that activates the starter relay and when you hit the key, the relay power is going directly to ground through the gauge. Its also possible your ignition switch or relay just crapped out. Gene
Yes it has been converted to 12 volt neg ground. I disconnected the wire from the volt meter that was tied into the unknown wire, but that did not make a difference. I did check the starter relay; I jumped the relay but got nothing from the starter. After a quick inspection of the starter, I noticed the positive wire (big wire) was loose, tried to snug it up but the whole post on the solenoid was turning. I even used the hammer trick thinking it may have stuck, but got nothing. So I dropped the starter and hooked up the jumper cables and still got nothing. I will take it in tomorrow and have it tested, but I am pretty sure the solenoid is bad. Might have to wait a few days to get one, but I am also getting an ignition switch just to be on the safe side.
Good luck on it,i hope it simple.Post a pic of your car so we can see what others and i have been working on. lol............................YG
I could not find a new or rebuilt starter and solenoid from any parts store. So a friend of mine told me about a guy just outside of town who rebuilds starters, alternators, generators, etc., said he was really good and reliable. We dropped it off to him and with in five minutes we found the problem. The small wire that connects to the exciter wire terminal on the solenoid had come loose and was not making contact. He said he would get it fixed and call me when he was done. Twenty minutes later he called. Said he was coming into town and would drop it off. He soldered the loose wire to the terminal, put a ground strap on it, tightened the main lug from the relay, put two new rubber insulators behind cover, installed new screws in solenoid cover, gave me new nuts and lock washers for connecting the cables to when I reinstall it, cleaned and inspected everything. When I asked how much I owed him, he said five dollars, I told him no way that was not enough. He said then make it ten and no more than that. What a stand up guy! He just saved me lots of cash and a lot of headaches. I could not thank him enough. Soon as I get it in will let you guys know how it works. Thanks for all your help guys. Really appreciate it. Here is a picture of my 54 New Yorker, taken at the Hunnert Car Pile Up 2010. We will be adding lake pipes, spots, sun visor, peep mirrors, and four inch wide whites in the next month or so., and maybe a new grill.
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