54 Super — driving project. Hopefully.

[Guest kursed56]

Hey everyone, I have some good news and some other news. I replaced the resistor and plug wires today and ran a hair dryer over the cap. The car actually fired-up with starter fluid and may have stayed running if I had fuel hooked up. So we ran to the parts store to pick up a filter and a couple feet of fuel line to run a alternate fuel source. Got home, set up the fuel tank, went to start it....nothing. I mean nothing, not a click, tick, smoke, nothing. Just sounds like the battery is dead but I checked and its good, now have 12.5 volts on one side of the resistor and 5 on the other end. So, Ill call it a day and think about what to do next.

Thanks again for everyones help, I appreciate it.

[stealthbob]

Might be a good idea to ALWAYS disconnect your battery while unattended until you have this figured out.

A sudden dead battery tells me you may have turned someting into a small heater for a while.

[JohnD1956]

Are you planning to run it without cleaning out the oil pan, like Stealthbob did, and wind up with dueling restoration projects with him? Cause it will be fun for us to watch, but very frustrating for you to endure while your motor is costing several thousand dollars to fix.

If nothing else, get a new oil filter kit, drop your oil filter canister, and clean that out. If you find a lot of sludge there, resist the temptation to just fire er up till you drop that oil pan.

[avgwarhawk]

Is the starter turning the engine over at all?

[Guest kursed56]

Heres what I have done thus far:

Cleaned pan, new gasket

Cleaned filter canister replaced filter

New oil

New plugs

New plug wires

Replaced resistor

It fired over with starter fluid a couple times.

Let car sit a couple hours to run and get a filter & line and when I returned:

Nothing, except I hear the little "doink" sound coming from the generator regulator (? thats mounted to the driver side inner fender) The battery is fully charged still, readings look good at resistor. Starter is not cranking. I tried knocking the starter with a hammer, but no luck there.

[avgwarhawk]

Starter is not clicking or engaging at all correct? If the starter seems to be attempting to engage but not turning the motor turn the crank by hand again to assure nothing happened with the quick start with starter fluid Check all ground wires in the system. Specifically the battery ground to the block. Check the terminal at the starter solenoid assuring when the key is in the on position and pedal pushed to start there is voltage at the solenoid to have the starter engage. If all of these check out it is possible the starter has given it's last.

[Guest kursed56]

Thanks Hawk! Ill check it out tonight when I get home.

[old-tank]

There is also a starter relay in the system mounted on the inner fender below the voltage regulator, and that may be what you hear clicking. If the 54 is similar enough to my 55's there are 4 wires on the starter relay: 10g pink on end terminal (goes to the ignition switch); 18g pink on the other end (back to the neutral safety switch and then the vacuum switch on the carb); 18 green to the ARM or GEN terminal of the voltage regulator; 10g black goes to the solenoid of the starter.

To test if the solenoid and starter are working jump 12v to the 10g black wire and the starter should crank (it will only try to start if the key is off; start and run if key is on). To test the starter relay jump 12v to the 18g pink wire with the key on and it should crank and run.

The problem is probably the starter relay. Remove it and open where you will find rust and corrosion. Sometimes the points get oxidized and can be freshened with fine sandpaper; more often the connection at the rivets is compromised. Until you can get a replacement from Bob's Automobilia, strike with a center punch on the edge of the rivets to get better continuity.

Now you know how to 'hot-wire' a Buick!

Willie

[JohnD1956]

...Now you know how to 'hot-wire' a Buick!...Willie

Damn, now none of us are safe!

[JohnD1956]

Kursed, here is a simple test for one possibility. Put your headlights on and then try to start the car. If the headlights go out when you get that click then I would start by cleaning and securing the battery terminals. There are scrapers which you run around inside the battery cable clamp and spin around the battery posts. DO not over do it. You can make the battery terminals too big and the posts too small in which case you will have a difficult time getting a tight connection.

[Guest kursed56]

Thanks guys. I didnt have time tonight to fiddle with the car but I did notice that the plunger in the starter solenoid was "loose". I could slide it back/forth easily. Is that normal?

John, none of the lights seem to be working in the entire car. The fuel gauge, amp, heater motor are the things that are working. No lights no radio, no dash lights.

[JohnD1956]

Thanks guys. I didnt have time tonight to fiddle with the car but I did notice that the plunger in the starter solenoid was "loose". I could slide it back/forth easily. Is that normal?

I've never tried to move mine by hand but with the key off, then I suppose it would be a good thing if you could move it by hand. Does it spring back to it's normal resting place?

John, none of the lights seem to be working in the entire car. The fuel gauge, amp, heater motor are the things that are working. No lights no radio, no dash lights.

Uh oh! The radio I can see not working. No dash or headlights may mean some wiring problems. But don't panic. Yet. Chances are the terminals on the wires just need cleaning also. At this point I would pull off the battery terminals and clean them as indicated in my prior post. If you do this, just try with easy pressure to see if the battery cables spin at all on the battery posts before looseing the clamp bolts. If so, definitely clean and secure the cables to the battery. DO NOT WRENCH hard to try and spin the cables on the posts. You don't want to rip out a battery post.

good luck

[buick5563]

If you do happen to clean the cables per John's instructions (which I agree with) and you go too far, you can either buy new cables (I buy decent two gauge cables from O'reillys on driver cars) OR I have had success using a hacksaw blade and widening the gap in the end of the lead (that is lead like Pb, not lead as in opposite of follow) cable end thus making it tighter.