Bronco II - no electric power after starter change

[grandpa]

My nephew has a Bronco II, 2.9 that he did a clutch and slave cylinder on. His first time to do anything like this. He finished up and took it around the block where it died and would not start. Pushed it back home. Thought the battery died and took it to the 'zone. Battery was good and they told him the starter was bad. Pulled the starter (no battery in truck) and sure enough the nose cone was cracked. Came home with freshly charged battery and installed new starter. Hooked up the battery and has no power anywhere. No headlights, dash lights - nothing! I went over and verified power on both sides of 4 fusible links (2 left side and 2 right side). Can jump the starter and she spins like crazy but never hit a lick. He did put a new solenoid in with the battery and starter. I am terrible with electrical stuff. Where to go from here?? Thanks

Fortunantly he has a backup vehicle but he loves his Bronco II.

 

[matticus420]

if the starter spins but doesnt crank the motor check to make sure the gave u the right starter.... the gave me one for an auto not a manual and it would just click wouldnt spin so i thought it was a bad starter exchanged it for new one still did it..... they should have the same number of teeth but the manual one the wheel is thicker

 

[martin]

Don't know where to start with this one, other than to say it would be much easier to find hands on. That being said, it sounds like a broken wire somewhere, possibly around the area of the solenoid.

 

[Chris_1]

And did he hook the ground wire back up ?

 

[Earl43P]

My bet is that he put the B+ cable on the wrong (big) post of the solenoid.

 

[grandpa]

Thanks for the feedback. It fixed itself (at least for now). He had a friend of the family that owns 4WD Broncos and is an avid off roader check it over. At the house, everything dead. They towed it to his friend's Porche shop and it has started every time. They went from one end to another and found nothing that checked wrong. Did some preventaive maintenence as they went, ie battery cable ends, cleaning up connections etc. Hard to fix it if its working! I suspect that the ground wire was barely making contact. Just enough to light up my test light but not enough to power up relays. The only thing that makes sense to me. Have seen stranger things in my day. Grounds will make you talk to yourself!

 

[Andy D]

Somewhere a wire end frayed and was down to a strand or 2 . It would make continuity but couldn't pass enough current. Old plastic insulation shrinks way, exposing the copper. Its an old car thing.