1988 Engine Install Issues

[octopod]

First time posting so I hope this is the right place for it.

My father and I bought a pair of rangers as projects a few months back, me an 85 Turbo Diesel with body issues, and him an 88 with two engines, both in the bed.

His truck was originally a 2.0l 1bbl carb which is the engine we put back in, now we are getting down to wanting to see if it will start. The wiring and vacuum lines may possibly be a bit screwy as there was atleast two sets of each and nothing really marked beforehand.

Anyways main problem right now is we tried starting it today so we hooked up the battery and the "seatbelt light" and "warning buzzer" go off when you turn the key, press the brake pedal, turn on the headlights, the dome light, or honk the horn. And that is pretty well all it does, no crank no click of a relay, lights and radio don't work.

I have checked the fuses under dash and they all seem good. Any help would be appreciated as I am pretty well lost at this point.

 

[RangerSVT]

You probably have a bunch of wires going where they're not supposed to. What I suggest is to get an EVTM for that year vehicle and start tracing from where you connected the engine to the vehicle...

SVT

 

[Mark_88]

The 2.0 carb wiring is pretty simple and if you don't get a click from the starter, start with the wires from the battery to the starter/solenoid...and make sure the battery is at least 12v or it won't even give you a solenoid gutteral growl.

The solenoid on these vehicles has two main battery connectors and two side posts. The post on the left of the solenoid is your main ignition feed and it usually is a press on boot. Remove this and check that the boot is both tight and free of rust...otherwise you won't be getting any power to the solenoid to engage the starter.

If all is well there, jump the solenoid with a screw driver to see if the starter activates...if it does, then you may have a bad solenoid...if it doesn't, you may have a wiring issue with the starter or the starter itself may be wonky.