Dj5-F electrical problems

Sorry about not replying, I had a bit of nasty food poisening. I replaced the solenoid yesterday, still nothing.

Jacob

Replacing parts without testing them gets expensive very quickly.

Mike

I remember being told this as a kid, a long, long time ago.

Earle

At least now he has to figure out 'why' the solenoid doesn't work....

Either the blue wire has no power when the key is in run or the solenoid has no ground.

Mike

Earle Hort>

Body ground again.

Earle

Bring us up to speed, Jacob.

We know:

• That the battery is charged and that the starter cranks when you jump it directly to the battery, so those two parts are good and adequate current can flow between those two parts.

• That you've got a new relay in place.

What we don't know:

• If the ground to the fender is good enough to allow the relay to operate.

• If the key switch circuit works.

• If the relay isn't bad out-of-the-box. (Rare, but it happens.)

• If you've any /other/ electrical problems. Do the lights, wipers, heater fan work?

Try this:

Looking at the relay so that two small posts are facing you and the can-shaped part is to the top, the small post with the blue wire should be marked "S". This one gets 12V from the key switch when you turn the switch to START. The other small post with the green wire should be marked "C", it feeds raw battery power to the coil [+] terminal only so long as you hold the key at START, for this problem you don't need to know more about the "C" terminal.

Pull the connector off the "S" terminal. Jump from the [+] battery cable (with wire, a screwdriver, something conductive) to the "S" terminal. The connection should spark and the engine should crank.

IF IT DOES NOTHING:

Bad [+] cable or connections beteen battery to relay. Bad ground to fender or to entire body. If the relay cannot find [-] it can't work. Run a jumper from the battery [-] terminal to the metal case of the relay and try again.

IF IT CRANKS ENGINE:

Bad connection at "S" terminal. If you have the original factory "push-on" connector it may be full of corrosion.

Blown fuse?

Bad key switch.

Loose connector at key switch.

Bad wiring between relay and key switch, or between key switch and battery.

Open safety switch someplace. If it has an automatic transmission it might be there. Remember that this was a Postal Service vehicle, so there might be odd interlocks based on their rules that require the brake to be applied, or the shifter in neutral, or the clutch to be depressed, or for you to be wearing a hat.

Let us know how you make out.

Jacob wrote:

I fixed it, all it needed was a new ignition switch. Thank you all. I appreciate the help!

Jacob

Thanks for the follow up. It is nice to know the results.

Mike