An '84 BII that's in need of love.

[RobbieD]

That is an odd one.

The only thing that I can think of is a weak connection somewhere; like light switch contacts, harness terminals or a loose or corroded grounding point. BUT, I would expect such an issue to also cause the lights to intermittently drop out after they've been turned on.

And I doubt that it's on the ground side, because the high headlights don't have the problem.

How consistent is this symptom?

*If it were me* I'd pull the light switch, and use a quality jumper lead to jump the power and low beam terminals in the switch connector. If this test still has the low headlights having a delay, look downstream from the switch (from the connector through the wires, harness connector and headlight terminals, and to the ground. If the the problem can not be made to happen with the jumper test, look hard at, or replace, the light switch. And make sure that the light switch connector doesn't look "toasty".

My guess would be the light switch (I can only offer a guess, 'cause I can't afford a lottery ticket anymo')

 

[SenorNoob]

I had that problem with the original 6v setup on my motorcycle. Power output from the stator was low/restricted enough that the filaments took several seconds heat up enough to make usable light. I replaced the headlight switch and it got better. Maybe try checking the voltage at the bulbs? I bet there is significant voltage drop along the way. I've measured as low as 9v (with charging at 13.8) on my wife's truck. That's a whole lotta resistance. I've used these to very good effect:

Headlight Relay Wiring Kit

 

[Hoosierman]

That is an odd one.

The only thing that I can think of is a weak connection somewhere; like light switch contacts, harness terminals or a loose or corroded grounding point. BUT, I would expect such an issue to also cause the lights to intermittently drop out after they've been turned on.

And I doubt that it's on the ground side, because the high headlights don't have the problem.

How consistent is this symptom?

*If it were me* I'd pull the light switch, and use a quality jumper lead to jump the power and low beam terminals in the switch connector. If this test still has the low headlights having a delay, look downstream from the switch (from the connector through the wires, harness connector and headlight terminals, and to the ground. If the the problem can not be made to happen with the jumper test, look hard at, or replace, the light switch. And make sure that the light switch connector doesn't look "toasty".

My guess would be the light switch (I can only offer a guess, 'cause I can't afford a lottery ticket anymo')

I will do that, and it's not hard to believe the switch may an issue, no telling how old this sucker is.

I had that problem with the original 6v setup on my motorcycle. Power output from the stator was low/restricted enough that the filaments took several seconds heat up enough to make usable light. I replaced the headlight switch and it got better. Maybe try checking the voltage at the bulbs? I bet there is significant voltage drop along the way. I've measured as low as 9v (with charging at 13.8) on my wife's truck. That's a whole lotta resistance. I've used these to very good effect:

Headlight Relay Wiring Kit

I did a harness and headlight conversion on my '88 Ranger, and there is no way in hell I'm not doing it to the BII. It's a just a sensible upgrade, and frankly one of the most worthwhile ones too. I'll definitely check the voltage.

Here's another odd one for ya's. I decided to poke around the Neutral Safety Switch because the truck will only start in Neutral-- I'm about 90% sure of that because I swear it has started in Reverse before. I loosened the two bolts and played around with the sensor's orientation, and I found the small hole to poke a #43 drill bit through but no matter how much I play with it, I can't get the drill bit to poke through more than, say, a millimeter. Let alone the half-inch the service books recommend.

Bad switch? Doing it wrong?

 

[Hoosierman]

Everyone!

IT LIVES!!!!

It idles, and it even drives! The brakes are (understably) a little wonky feeling. I noticed that when I had her in reverse, it seemed like the truck barely wanted to move, and as I slowly pressed more on the pedal, suddenly it wanted to take off, like maybe there is adjustment issue. When I put the vehicle in park, it tends to want to roll forward. And there is a gas drip out of the front end of the carb.

Lots of work to be done.

Also, on the 2.8 forum, I made mention that I may have a lead on Cardone distributors (now I may potentially have two). I am waiting to see if I get the actual thing in the mail before I say anything else because the distributor for Duraspark is a little bit of a unicorn nowadays, and I refuse to 100% believe I found the real thing until I have it in my hands.

 

[Hoosierman]

Update:

Sometime between two weeks ago, and (technically) last Saturday, Rockauto listed a Cardone 30-2691 dizzy for 1978 Pintos. So I grabbed it, was about $111 and some change. I was very skeptical, thinking it was an inventory error (knowing my fortunes lately), but it came this morning and sure enough, it is a true blue Cardone 30-2691 remanufactured Motorcraft distributor.

I guess the lesson here is to use your ABCs.
Always
Be
Checking.

Reminds me of Glengarry Glenross.

I will still check with my O Reilly locally in a few weeks to see if the Cardones are going to be back in stock as they claimed two weeks ago when I called them.

I have a question about the Duraspark Conversion: What vehicles can I snag the wiring harness from? I'm afraid the Pinto and the Capri that I found had none of that. I heard I can snag a harness from a truck too.

 

[Hoosierman]

This weekend I finished installing everything for Duraspark. It cranks and cranks but won't turn over. I have spark, and I have been to hell and back with timing over this this. I set it to 12° BTDC, which is what I've read as recommended. I make sure the rotor is at or a hair before #1 on the distributor. I can't exactly tell if I'm on the compression stroke because 1- when use to he shop rag trick, it never moves. 2- now matter how many times I'm turning the pulley, I can't ever tell if I can feel compression in the spark plug hole for cylinder 1. I'm used to it being quite noticeable, but I'll be damned if I can feel any on this. And on top of that, I'm not entirely sure if that's the only thing going on.

Like I said, it cranks and cranks but never fires. Oh, and occasionally it'll backfire out of the carb just a little. I dunno. If I'm 180° off timing, then I've just so happened to be 180° off all 176,899 times I've done it.

Other things I've looked at were spark and voltage. I have spark, I grounded a sparkplug to the engine and saw a yellow spark, not blue, which leads me to think that maybe I have weak spark. The canister coil (+) gets roughly 7 volts with the key on, then when cranking about 9.5 volts. The battery rests at 12.67 volts, cranks ar 11.4v. I even had new spark plugs that came with the truck, so I installed them with a gap of .035, and I'm not even sure how I'm going to get to cylinder 3's spark plug. There is so much in the way of that spot it's ridiculous.

Any input helps!

 

[Terrys87]

I just went thru your thread. Great to hear you are slowly getting it back into shape. There is a salvage that in my area that actually has some 2.8 and apparently the distributor is getting hard to find. I will see if they still have them. It will be a couple of weeks before I get back to them. The Bronco 2 is a fun little truck to drive. I had a Bronco 2 for several years. I feel the Halogen head lights draw to much current. My old Bronco, it would melt the connector that the dimmer switch connects to. I eventually want to do the head light relay upgrade myself. I have never done it and I see it posted in your thread so will be following up on it. Looking forward to your build.

Cylinder 3 if it is on the passenger side, I get it by going over the tire if I recall correctly, even remove the tire. I have a 2.9 and actually bought some plugs for mine today, just need to get them installed.

I am not any good on voltages so cant help you there. I will say for plugs, I have had several mechanics to tell me to you only Motorcraft plugs. I am getting ready to see if that corrects a problem for me.

 

[Hoosierman]

I just went thru your thread. Great to hear you are slowly getting it back into shape. There is a salvage that in my area that actually has some 2.8 and apparently the distributor is getting hard to find. I will see if they still have them. It will be a couple of weeks before I get back to them. The Bronco 2 is a fun little truck to drive. I had a Bronco 2 for several years. I feel the Halogen head lights draw to much current. My old Bronco, it would melt the connector that the dimmer switch connects to. I eventually want to do the head light relay upgrade myself. I have never done it and I see it posted in your thread so will be following up on it. Looking forward to your build.

Terry, I have done the headlight harness upgrade on three separate vehicles so far and I will certainly do it to the Bronco II.

My understanding is that it takes a lot of the burden off of a rather fragile switch. And as I understand it, it's also true for both older Jeeps that I did it too as well. A good harness with good relays and grounds; some good halogens (I'm doing Crystalvisions this time), and new headlight assemblies have worked out very well for me three times already. I will add that if you do the headlight harness upgrade you may want consider how old your truck is, maybe it would be served well to replace the headlight connectors. That's what I wound up needing to do because the original connectors, even after I cleaned them, were just too ratty and I sometimes had unreliable connections.

My '88 is about to receive a thorough wiring upgrade soon anyway. I tried my hand at Weatherpack on the BII, I'm going to try Deutsch Connectors next.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I just went to Deutsch on mine, I really like them so far. The special crimper works great and disassembling the connector is much easier than weatherpack,

 

[Hoosierman]

I just went to Deutsch on mine, I really like them so far. The special crimper works great and disassembling the connector is much easier than weatherpack,

If I might ask: Do you know what kit and tools you used for Deutsch Connectors? There are so many options and these trucks usually have an array from 20-12awg. I haven't yet pulled the trigger on any kits yet because of this. It seems I may have to order two different kits for the different gauges.

If you don't my mind.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I used these for crimping the pins.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYZJ5FDV/?tag=959media-20

I picked this up because it was cheap but it is basically a double ended small screwdriver. One end is formed it a sort of a hook and I haven't figured out why yet.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZJ8Q7WD/?tag=959media-20

 

[Hoosierman]

I used these for crimping the pins.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYZJ5FDV/?tag=959media-20

I picked this up because it was cheap but it is basically a double ended small screwdriver. One end is formed it a sort of a hook and I haven't figured out why yet.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZJ8Q7WD/?tag=959media-20

You're using closed barrel pins, correct?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You're using closed barrel pins, correct?

Yup and compared to the open foldover weatherpack pins I LOVE THEM!

 

[SenorNoob]

The ad you linked says the hook is for removing the wedge clips...