Okay, so I have a '57 ford fairlane 500 with an '85 carb'ed mustang 5.0 motor. 5 speed manual. Wiring harness. Drove it roughly 25 miles from my buddies place to get it home, parked it, now it won't start. Or rather, it starts, runs for 2 seconds, and as soon as you let go of the key it dies. Don't see any real obvious problems, so I'm pretty stumped. Thoughts idea's and suggestions will be greatly appreciated, thanks.
May also need to see oil pressure to (stay) running. Best get a manual to see what all it( the computer) needs to see
I know you said it has an '85 motor in it but does the car by any chance still have an ignition ballast resistor or resistor wire for a points type ignition? What you describe is typically what happens when you have a bad resistor. As 19Eddy30 mentioned, it will need 12v to run.
Run a wire from the battery to the ing side of the coil , if it stays running it could be the ballast or the switch .
HotRodPrimer- No loose wires found yet- 19Eddy30- I'm losing power somewhere! weps- yea, what's up with that? My oil light is on... Saxman- no idea how to test the ballast resistor, but I did try the two extra I have (which may already be bad, lol) Hilo- Batteries in the trunk! Any other idea's maybe?
The hot lead ends in the engine compartment jump it from there ,be sure you can pull it off quickly .
What kind of ignition system is It ? Needs a ballast if points distributor . Ohm meter to test the ballast, if burnt / bad , it will be open ,(not show resistance , ) Or use test light , if burnt , current will not flow threw , To start Run a Jumper wire from battery ( positive ) to positive on coil , To turn off disconnect the jumper wire ,
Do you have a 4 post solenoid (typical for Fords) the second small terminal passes 12V to the coil when the starter is engaged. When you release the key to the run position, that cuts the 12V to the coil from the solenoid, where upon the lead from the ignition run position should feed through the resistor to feed the coilwith about 8 volts. Coils don't like to run on 12V as they overheat, so that is why the line involtage is dropped through the resistor for the ign on run circuit. So if it starts and then quits when you release the key the fault is in the wiring from the ign switch to the resistor, or the resistor or theline to the coil from the reisitor. Test light with ign on "run" should light when probe is touched to ballast in. should light with probe touched to ballast out and should light when probe is touched to pos terminal on coil. If not you have isolated your fault where it doesn't light. This assumes your coil is up to snuff.
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