Arun Nella

Solved. Removed starter and learnt that solenoid was shot! Found and retrofitted another solenoid. Now starting like a champ!

Tried starting the car for the first time after a brutal winter. I hear the starter turning but doesn't crank. The the starter turns, its telling me that the solenoid is getting picked up but the pinion gear isn't engaging. Is it possible that the starter pinion gear is "stuck" from the Chicago winter? Any way to try to free it up? Or the solenoid plunger is broken or something? I hope not! All sort of thoughts on this is appreciated.

Recently brake pedal started going to the floor and requires pumping for good braking. My shoes were almost done so i got that changed first. But the pedal going to the floor is still there. The fact that i do get brakes with pumping is telling me that there is air in the brake system and/or brake fluid low. Is that a right assumption? I located the master cylinder under the driver cabin floor plate. Opened it to find out Master cylinder has a square nut on it. What i can use to drive a square nut? #Newbie. Thanks, Arun

Wanted to post an update here. All starting problems were due to bad connection, really old coil wires for starter relay etc. When ever i had issues, I always measured low voltage (less than 5V at the starter solenoid). Cleaned most connections and upgraded some wiring in starting circuit. Problem is almost gone. Still have the wire from ignition to the relay which i need to trace and upgrade. Thanks for everyones help.

Here are couple of pics from late night rides I do with my wife.

I took the battery to Autozone and had it checked out good on the load test! So now i am back down to the starter solenoid. I am gonna try to clean the connections at the solenoid and see how that changes anything. Then will try try a better cable and then possibly rebuilding the starter/solenoid combo.

Ground was recently cleaned with sand paper. This issue is only after driving for more than 30 mins. Then once i don't use the car for say 6-8 hours, I can start the car again. A wild thought, could the battery be going bad. I ready 6.3V when i see this issue (6V car) but could the cell be going bad inside due to overcharging somehow and isn't giving enough amps to the starter solenoid?

I am back with another starting issue. Whenever I drive on the highway for a while (30 mins usually) and stop the engine somewhere, usually at a gas station, the car doesn't wanna start anymore. This happened this morning. Started fine at home, drove for 30 mins, stopped for gas and then it doesn't wanna start anymore. But I hear the click. Battery measured 6.3V which is good for a 6V system. Charging system was working fine before I left home at around 7.3V. This had happened to me once before too but now I am wondering if this is somehow related to driving at highway speed and heating the car up! I then had to put a 12V booster to start the car which I hate to do but what else to do when u are stranded! Any thoughts?

Now that the car starts, runs and charges fine, I am getting to making it comfortable. I tried the heating system. It worked on the first day although it took for ever to warm up the cabin. Then the following days the cabin isn't getting warm anymore. The blower fan in the engine bay is running. Thermostat reading isn't going past minimum but it's not pegged at the bottom either. Even after driving for 30 mins the temperature reading is at the minimum. I am pretty sure thermostat is the first item I need to go after. Looked up in the shop manual for the location but couldn't find it on the car! Is the thermostat polarity sensitive? Any other tips will be appreciated.

Drove it for the past 3 days and have these two questions: I am having to try crank the starter, first 3-4 times i only hear click from the relay but then it starts cranking, why. When it cranks it may take 2 or 3 trials before engine starts. Any thoughts?

Wired the generator with regulator and battery and YESSSS battery is charging now. Now all that's left is to mount the power steering pump and locate the title to get the plate. Forgot where i left it between all these. You guys are amazing, especially @Rusty_OToole.

Thanks. It was polarized by the rebuilding shop. I will hook it up to the regulator and see. With regulator hooked up, I should be able to measure voltage from the BAT terminal right? But, I am surprised to measure zero volt at the generator. Usually voltage is provided/controlled by the source which in this case is the generator, isn't it? I have a manual but it's missing pages from electrical section after batteries.

So, got the rebuilt generator back. Installed it. Didn't wire yet, I wanted to measure the voltage first. Hooked up a 6volt battery and started the car and yes it started. Slow crank but def started. Noticed two things: Measured 0 volt across generators ARM and Field. I am measuring continuity between the body of the generator and the ARM/Field pins! Is that normal? The rebuilt shop said they tested generator and it was working fine. I am gonna call them tomorrow. Any tips will be appreciated. So the car now starts on 6 volt battery but this generator deal!

Thanks @Rusty_OToole. It's clear now. Over the weekend I learned that, since the last owner rewired (half ass) for negative ground, if I flip the connections just at the battery to make the car positive ground as it originally was, then my negative terminal at the ignition coil will see positive voltage which is not good. This is because coil's power is daisy chained from horn relay which is coming all the way from ignition switch. So I will have to change the feed power at ignition switch to correct this. What a pain! Or should I just leave things the way he had connected with negative ground setup! I am a bit lost. I was motivated to bring the car to factory style positive ground but seems like last owner or someone rewired it for negative ground. So it may take several changes to make the car positive ground. Now what do I do with my brand new positive ground voltage regulator!!! Any way to use that in a negative ground setup!

Also, What is this device in the picture? Red wire is going to the horn and white wire is going to ignition coil. Is this a relay? I couldn't locate a part number or any sort of writing on it.

@c49er, Just to clarify the negative side of the coil should see negative from the battery right? regardless of positive or negative ground setup?

I figured I start a fresh topic to get some help with my 54 Chrysler Windsor. Some intro: This is my first classic. Bought it few weeks ago. Drove it home and while driving around the town car died at a stop light. While troubleshooting I figured out the following so far: Car is originally 6V positive ground But last owner had a 12V battery on it with negative ground setup. but no 12V conversion. Generator is still the original 6v, so are starter and starter solenoid. I bought a compatible 6V battery from autozone and tried with negative ground setup since the car started and ran with 12 volt negative ground for a day. But car didn't crank but i can hear the solenoid clicking. Put my 12v booster on it and starter cranks but no start. Upon further investigation realized that voltage regulator is shorted and so is generator. Bought new positive ground voltage regulator and now i am getting the original generator rebuilt. Also found that car has 6V ignition coil and is wired for negative ground. WTH! So thats probably why when i hooked up battery on positive ground starter cranked but no start. In few days, I will have rebuilt 6V generator, fully charged 6V battery and brand new 6V positive ground voltage regulator. I plan to change the coil wiring so that negative will see 6v negative and positive will see the 6v positive ground. How ever I am a bit confused on the positive side. See the pic attached. The small box is the positive terminal of the coil that's going to a part underneath inside the big red box. What is that?

Got the generator removed. See the pic. Thanks everyone. Now I am tracing wires to figure out why starter isn't cranking on 6V battery but cranks on 12 V. I might create another topic to discuss strictly the starting issue.

The windsor i bought came with a 12V battery. When the car died on me at a light, looked into it to learn that car is 6V positive ground but previous owner had it wired for negative ground and had 12V battery. Started the car with a 12V booster measured voltage at generator. 0 Volts. At that point, i wanted to get the generator rebuilt since it's original anyways. I don't know what all the last owner did but i inherited a shorted positive ground voltage regulator. I bought a spare from Oreilly. Tried to start the car with a fully charged 6V battery but no luck. But starts with a 12 volt booster. I would like to keep the car at 6v but going in circles now. I do have a shop manual but it's missing some pages from electrical after battery, starter, generator and voltage generator.

I switched the polarity at the battery. Cleaned connectors at battery, positive going to engine, negative going to starter relay. Only click no crank. Put a 12V booster and starts cranks but no start. I didn't switch the polarity back to see if the car still starts. I have ordered a wrench set from amazon which I am waiting on. I am tired of working with ratchets and adjustable.

Hi, Bought my first classic and learnt that the generator needs to be rebuilt. So trying to get that to a shop. Removed the generator-power steering pump assembly. But can't seem to figure out how to detach power steering pump from generator. Couldn't find anything helpful in shop manual. Any help will be appreciated. 1954 Windsor deluxe w/ power steering.

This question came to my mind today while preparing to switch my car back to Positive ground from the current negative ground setup. Since my car starts fine with negative ground setup at battery, wouldn't switching polarity at battery connection force the starter to run in the opposite direction? Isn't that a risky move?

Thank you @lump for taking the effort. I found myself a shop manual and yes you are correct. Its a positive ground 6V car. I am now trying to remove the generator. Removed two bolts (one from the adjustment linkage and other from the engine body). This car has power steering so the pump is connected at the back end of the generator. Any tips on how to detach the generator from power steeling pump without draining the fluid?

You guys are amazing. My 6V battery can put out 710A. So my is infact positive ground 6 volt (learnt from manual). So I am gonna first of all wire battery with positive ground and try to start the car. I have the generator disconnected since I have to get it rebuilt anyways. However, I am wondering how everything worked with 12V negative ground setup!, the starter relay, starter motor etc.!!!

I wanna keep the car 6V at any cost. So try to get it started with 6 volt. Battery cables are pretty thick and almost double the size of my 12 V daily driver. I have to check the connections for corrosion. What kinda voltage should I expect at the starter terminal when I attempt to start?