Car wants to crank when hooking up battery

BaLleRz68 · Sep 29, 2007

I just replaced all my batter cables and put in a new motorcraft starter solenoid and wired my car for an electric fan. When I try and hook up the battery on the positive the car wants to crank then stops. What could be the problem? Could my new starter solenoid be defective? Thanks.

dglanz · Sep 29, 2007

Car wants to crank

BaLleRz68 said:
I just replaced all my batter cables and put in a new motorcraft starter solenoid and wired my car for an electric fan. When I try and hook up the battery on the positive the car wants to crank then stops. What could be the problem? Could my new starter solenoid be defective? Thanks.

Assuming you aren't hooking up the starter solenoid incoorectly, it could be a defective solenoid. Disconnect the wire that goes from the solenoid to the starter. Hook up the battery with a voltmeter the terminal that you just diconnected and connect the other wire from the voltmeter to ground. If you hear the solenoid click and you get 12V on that post, the solenoid is fine. If you are getting 12V before you hear it click (it's more like a strong "thunk"), you have a problem with your solenoid. Good luck.

Rusty67 · Sep 29, 2007

Maybe you switched the I and the S wires on the solinoid.

BaLleRz68 · Sep 30, 2007

Thanks for the reply.

UPDATE: I check all my grounds and they are good. I tried to connect the positive side again and tried to crank the engine and I get this "err" sound. I pulled the battery and had it tested it only had about 15 cranking amps and 12 volts. I also checked if my connections were correct for the starter and ignition wire, starter = red/blue, ignition = brown. I also just did a 130 amp 3G conversion and an electric fan so I think this was too much for the old battery. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

JDS68Stang · Sep 30, 2007

BaLleRz68 said:
I just replaced all my battery cables and put in a new motorcraft starter solenoid and wired my car for an electric fan. When I try and hook up the battery on the positive the car wants to crank then stops. What could be the problem? Could my new starter solenoid be defective? Thanks.

First off, you did two things before the problem started, solenoid and wired in an elec. fan. (just assuming you did the bat. cables correct but recheck them anyway)

Backstep, unhook what you did for the fan if it's not to difficult and then recheck, you should have your positive post on FIRST then hook on the neg. to the battery.
Now is it still trying to turn over? If yes, then it's NOT your fan wiring, no, then it IS your fan wiring.

If yes, it's something you hooked up wrong on your solenoid, you can try a new switch again but most likely you made a simple mistake. Good luck.

BaLleRz68 · Sep 30, 2007

Thanks for the reply. I will try that tomorrow and keep an update.

D.Hearne · Sep 30, 2007

BaLleRz68 said:
Thanks for the reply.

UPDATE: I check all my grounds and they are good. I tried to connect the positive side again and tried to crank the engine and I get this "err" sound. I pulled the battery and had it tested it only had about 15 cranking amps and 12 volts. I also checked if my connections were correct for the starter and ignition wire, starter = red/blue, ignition = brown. I also just did a 130 amp 3G conversion and an electric fan so I think this was too much for the old battery. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

Your problem isn't the solenoid, it's a weak battery. Recharge the battery and tap on the solenoid with something solid to unstick it. Weak battery's will almost always casue a solenoid to stick.

BaLleRz68 · Sep 30, 2007

UPDATE:

Put in the recharged battery and it worked. Car starts up fine However, I got a new problem. My electric fan wont work when I try and turn it on with the override switch. I wired the override switch based on this post.

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=711237

Here are the instructions for the painless kit

http://www.painlessperformance.com/Manuals/30103Instruction.pdf

I spliced the wire that goes to the sensor (Black wire) to a override switch. Then from the override switch to a ground.

I bought a switch from Kragen that has switch poles that say "power", "load", and "ground." I connected the splice from the sensor to "power" and ran a "ground" to a ground. Did I do all this correctly? Thanks.

Grabber70Mach · Sep 30, 2007

BaLleRz68 said:
UPDATE:

Put in the recharged battery and it worked. Car starts up fine However, I got a new problem. My electric fan wont work when I try and turn it on with the override switch. I wired the override switch based on this post.

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=711237

Here are the instructions for the painless kit

http://www.painlessperformance.com/Manuals/30103Instruction.pdf

I spliced the wire that goes to the sensor (Black wire) to a override switch. Then from the override switch to a ground.

I bought a switch from Kragen that has switch poles that say "power", "load", and "ground." I connected the splice from the sensor to "power" and ran a "ground" to a ground. Did I do all this correctly? Thanks.

Is this a luminated switch? Just wondering about the three connections you are refering to. I would take an ohm meter and measure across the power and load terminals, try the switch in both positions, one should show "shorted" or closed and the other way open. I'm thinking that is the connections you will want to use.

BaLleRz68 · Sep 30, 2007

Yea I got the one with the red LED from Kragen. This is what it looks like:

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=DOR&MfrPartNumber=84894&CategoryCode=3063D

I connected the splice from the sensor (black wire) to the "power" side and "load" to a ground and it seems to be working. Now the fan wont turn off when I shut the car off sometimes, so I had to disconnect the battery. I also have a painless thermostatic switch thats suppose to turn on the fan when the temperature reaches 185 then off at 170. I have to turn the fan manually because my temperature gauge is almost at "H".

JDS68Stang · Sep 30, 2007

BaLleRz68 said:
................."Now the fan wont turn off when I shut the car off sometimes"......

......so I had to disconnect the battery.

"I also have a painless thermostatic switch thats suppose to turn on the fan when the temperature reaches 185 then off at 170"..........QUOTE]

At least D.Hearnes' post got one problem solved for you (and I learned something new)

I underlined what I think are key points in your post above.

Do you expect the fan to stop as soon as you shut your engine off everytime?, for instance, when you shut the car off do you allow the thermostat to cool to below 170? or shut the fan off manually right away?

The fan should continue to run after the engine is off for awhile untill the engine cools below 170 before kicking off the thermostatic switch with these units I assume.

Main Question: Have you ever waited 5 minutes or so after shutting off engine to see if the fan goes off later on its own, after the engine has cooled? I'm assuming these units are designed to run like they do on todays conventional cars as I've never used one .

Edit: I just re-read your post again, if your having to go manual as well because your headed toward overheating we're back to sqaure one again. (hey I'm really tired today)
Recheck all the wiring, maybe this manual switch is causing the problems, have you given it a shot with out the switch hooked up and just let the thermo switch do it's job?

BaLleRz68 · Sep 30, 2007

Thanks for the reply. I never waited 5 minutes for the fan to shut off because I assumed it would just stay on so I just disconnect the battery to turn off the fan. Im not sure if the fan would shut off automatically when the 170 degree temperature was reached.

D.Hearne · Sep 30, 2007

You need to wire the fan power into a switched source. That's how I have the fans on my Ranger wired. Soon as I kill the ignition, the fans turn off. I used a Painless wiring kit to wire the twin fans (this is a V8 swapped into the Ranger) It's worked flawlessly like this for 5 years now.

D.Hearne · Sep 30, 2007

JDS68Stang said:
At least D.Hearnes' post got one problem solved for you (and I learned something new)

Don't thank me, that's what I came in here (the forums) for. That little tidbit used to be common knowledge "back in the day" I just make it a habit to not let things like that die off.

JDS68Stang · Sep 30, 2007

BaLleRz68 said:
Thanks for the reply. I never waited 5 minutes for the fan to shut off because I assumed it would just stay on so I just disconnect the battery to turn off the fan. Im not sure if the fan would shut off automatically when the 170 degree temperature was reached.

I would have suggested to try that 5 minute wait but then if it's on it's way to overheating as well, then you have me stumped here on what to try.

So when the car was headed toward overheating, the fan was off but you turned it on manually?

D.Hearnes post might just be the solution you want, that's up to you to decide.

If I can think of anything else that might help I'll repost later tonight.

BaLleRz68 · Sep 30, 2007

JDS68Stang said:
So when the car was headed toward overheating, the fan was off but you turned it on manually?

Thanks everyone for helping my out. When I started the car I just watched the gauge to see when the fan would kick on by itself and it wouldnt. When the gauge was almost "H" I turned it on manually. I only let the fan run for about 2 minutes then shut off the car. Anyone know how long it takes the temperature to drop once the fan turns on? How do you wire the fan to a switched source? Im running the cooling system with Prestones "super flush" mixed with distilled water. I want to flush out the system because the car sat for about a month without coolant. I can only work on the car on weekends because of a busy works schedule. (Im doing a 3G alternator conversion, new water pump, radiator, and electric fan all at the same time).

D.Hearne · Sep 30, 2007

You can find a switched power source in the fuse panel. Use a test light and find the hot bar in the panel that's switched on with the ignition. There's usually two hot bars in it, one switched and one hot all the time.

Tim65GT · Sep 30, 2007

Here is a simple diagram to help you hook up your sensor and switch.

Assuming you have a two terminal temp sensor.

JDS68Stang · Oct 2, 2007

D.Hearne said:
Don't thank me, that's what I came in here (the forums) for. That little tidbit used to be common knowledge "back in the day" I just make it a habit to not let things like that die off.

Yea now that you mentioned that I remembered my brother doing that "back in the day", tapping a wrench on the solenoid to reset it. A lot has been comming back to me as I keep reading different posts like this one as it's been 30 years since I wrenched on one of these. The good old days when spare parts were plentiful and cheap, we didn't fix a trans. back then, we replaced it for $35. in a few hours from a friend that had an extra one laying around.

As for the fan/ over heating problem I'd go with D.Hearnes advice, wire it direct to the fuse box terminal that has juice once the ignition is on. Probably, from the sound of it you just wanna walk away from the problem for now, can't blame ya, these things get frustrating. Later you'll say "that was easy enough to do" though.

BaLleRz68 · Oct 2, 2007

JDS68Stang said:
Probably, from the sound of it you just wanna walk away from the problem for now, can't blame ya, these things get frustrating. Later you'll say "that was easy enough to do" though.

Yea, with a 50+ work week its hard to make time for wrenching during the week. I only have time to work on the car on weekends or every other weekend. I want to get it done right away, but I want to do it right. My cars only initial problem was a busted radiator and thats all it needed but I ended up replacing the radiator, water pump, thermostat, battery cables, solenoid, and did a 3G alternator and electric fan conversion. I spend more than I wanted because I was finding a lot of parts that were really old or not dependable. Oh well, thats part of the hobby. You cant expect everything to be perfect while working on these 40+ year old mustangs.

Car wants to crank when hooking up battery

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