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1964 Wildcat is meeting a nasty end


Guest InkedGhandi

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Guest InkedGhandi

Recently my '64 wildcat decided to stop running. And I need some major help figuring out the problem. The starter was re-manufactured no more than a week ago, the battery is new, as is the alternator, and I replaced the ignition coil, ignition switch, and also changed the fusible links. And it wont turn over for anything. Everything else comes on except for the starter. And I have had the battery and starter tested and they both test good. So any help would be highly appreciated.

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Is there a neutral safety switch and/or a relay for the starter?

Does the starter click when you turn the key, or nothing happens at all? I know we've all gotten into a car with an automatic transmission that wasn't quite all the way in Park, and turned the key to find nothing happens. That's the neutral safety switch's job. Make sure your linkage is adjusted properly, the switch is working, and the shift lever is all the way into position.

If this is it, you'll kick yourself, but you'll be so thrilled that the car is running that it won't hurt. :)

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Matt,

I found that out the hard way the first time I took my mom and dad's sixties era Ford Country Sedan station wagon out for the first time by myself after I got my license. I set the brake and forgot and left the car in drive when I shut it off. It was sitting on flat ground so it didn't roll at all. Got back into the car to go to the movies with my best friend and panic struck....the car wouldn't start. :eek:

A quick call to a well known gas station owner, that also ran a tow service, and I was back on the road. Dad forgot to warn me about that. :rolleyes::D

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Guest InkedGhandi

The neutral safety switch is how it should be. And the car is in park. I have made sure of that many times. So has my wife. So right now I am trying to figure out if it is the starter or something. It is brand new so maybe my wiring is off.

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l had something similar happen to my 1962 Chevrolet

Impala. (I do not know how alike these two cars may be).

It turned out to be the wiring plug or jack on the firewall,

where the engine (underhood) wiring plugs into a jack

on the firewall. The terminal in that plug that goes to

the starter was burned/pitted. I had to run a separate

wire for the starter, by-passing that connection, from the

ignition switch. If your starter will run by jumping from

the battery directly to it, the fault might be in the wiring.

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Guest InkedGhandi

Right now I think I need to get the starter re-tested because while trying to take off the wires the ratchet I was using sparked causing the car to start up. Really scary being under a car and it not running the past few days. And when I had some help from a fellow classic car guy talking me through how to test the starter nothing happened at all. It didn't turn at all. Only sparked once when I was told to touch a positive wire to the S terminal. If anyone can tell me anything about this that would be awesome.

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Before you ever attempt to remove a starter you should always disconnect the ground battery cable. Sounds like you have bad connections somewhere. How is your often over looked ground wire? Be sure it has a solid connection to the block and the cable ends have good connections. With the starter out, you should beable to test it with jumper cables to a good battery. The "S" teminal is for Solenoid. This is the terminal that the key switch energizes when the switch is turned to start position. You can test the starter yourself by grounding it to the case with the negative jumper, running the positive cable to the big post, and energizing the "S" terminal with a jumper wire. Best to do this in a vice as the starter will kick and try to spin around when it is working. You can also test the starter in the car by running a jumper wire From the "S" terminal to a positive post on the battery. If it works, then you have isolated the problem to the Switch, or to a neutral safety switch as the other have said. Many automatic cars will also start in the neutral position, as well as the park position. If it starts in neutral, but not in park. Then you have narrowed the problem down to the neutral safty switch. A simple test light, or multi meter is a very useful tool in diagnosing electrical flow problems. Dandy Dave!

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Guest InkedGhandi

Well last night I tried exactly what you had just explained to me and when I touched the S terminal with the postive battery post all it did was spark. I was told it was a bad solenoid. So that is why today I was going to have it tested out because I was told that how it had started and then smoked real bad I could have burnt out the starter.

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Well at least you are narrowing things down. I will agree that you do have a faulty/defective starter at this point. When you get the starter corrected, before you hook up the "S" terminal, use a test light or muti meter and hook it to the wire the goes to that post and the other end back to ground. The test light should only be lit when the key is in start position, if it is still lit in the run position you have a faulty switch that is spinning the starter after the engine is running. This will burn up a starter very quickly. Dandy Dave!

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My parents had a '59 Impala that would not start on occasion. Get in, turn the key, nothing. An hour or two later, it would start right up. Very annoying when we went somewhere and it wouldn't start when we wanted to head home. It passed every test and never failed to start when at the garage. Turned out to be the solenoid.

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Could be the biggest headache of any mechanic, a wire that has a break in it but still makes contact at times. Check for resistance while moving/bending/pulling on the wires, one at a time, that go to the solenoid and the ignition switch.

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Guest InkedGhandi

Turns out that the starter I had just purchased and is only a week old turned out to be really bad. And thanks to the help of someone on this forum found out that my old starter was just fine. But because I am still new to cars I didn't put insulation on the wires so the headers just melted right through them causing the whole car to short out. So that is my plan for this weekend before my first show.

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Wwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaa. :eek: You gotta keep the wires out of the exhaust at all costs. The plastic parts and red hot heat do not agree. ;) Glad you found the problem. :cool: Dandy Dave!

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