ugh, Stangs won't start!

[notched86]

Ok, first off, me, my mom, dad, and little sister go to a car show and madison and we take my mom's fully restored '64 1/2 Convertible with 260 V8 and automatic trans. (restored about 2 years ago) So the car made it to the car show fine. I did have to put in some more automatic transmission fluid before we went since it has a slow leak. Anyways, we stayed at the show a few hours and drove the car back. No problem. Then we park it under the tree, since we know we'll take it out later tonight. Anyways, about an hour later, we go out and try to start it. Son of a bitch won't even turn over. Weird thing is all the power accesorys still work. We even put the power top back up in it. I tried starting it with a jump, nothing. I put it in neutral and let it roll back a little ways thinking it might have had something to do with the transmission, put it in park, turned the key, and still the starter doesn't even turn over. But all the power accessorys still work! I'm stumped on this one.


Then, I tried to start my '89 hatchback tonight, that thing won't start either. If you try to start it with a fully charged battery, the battery just goes click and everything goes dead. Try to start it with a jump and the motor turns over and over but t never fires up. I even sprayed some started fluid in the intake, still no luck. Then as a last ditch effort, I rolled it down the hill at 30 mph, put it in second, and popped the clutch. The motor started for a few seconds, then it just died and the battery died with it. So now my mom's 64 1/2 is sitting outside under a tree with no way to move it, and my '89 Mustang is stuck at the bottom of our drive way with a dead battery and a motor that won't start.

It's been a frusterating night.

Anyone have any idea what's going on?

 

[351wcoupe]

you say the 64 1/2 doesn't start. Does that one try to click or anything? If not it could the nuetral switch. or the small wire on the solenoid that actually switches the solenoid might have come off.

on the hatch. Just jumping or using a supposed good battery may complicate things. I had someone come in and brought me a battery that they wanted tested. It tested bad. They said well I put that battery in it and it did fine for a little while.....that one tested bad too.

If its fully charged check/clean your connections and maybe even add a new ground strap.

I apoligize but it looks like you've gotten it too. you've caught the curse from me and now it will continue to spread through these forums until there isn't a mustang running right anywhere.

 

[notched86]

you say the 64 1/2 doesn't start. Does that one try to click or anything? If not it could the nuetral switch. or the small wire on the solenoid that actually switches the solenoid might have come off.

on the hatch. Just jumping or using a supposed good battery may complicate things. I had someone come in and brought me a battery that they wanted tested. It tested bad. They said well I put that battery in it and it did fine for a little while.....that one tested bad too.

If its fully charged check/clean your connections and maybe even add a new ground strap.

I apoligize but it looks like you've gotten it too. you've caught the curse from me and now it will continue to spread through these forums until there isn't a mustang running right anywhere.

Nope, 64 doesn't click when you try to start it. Where is the neutral switch located?

I'm not all that upset about the '89. I just wanted to drive it once before I sold it. And the guy who's buying it knows it doesn't start, so I'll let it be his problem. I'll probably just pull it over to his house with the truck. He was supposed to come over yesterday to pick one of em up but once again he didn't show. I'm going over to his place tomorrow to see whats up...ask him if he really wants these cars, cause otherwise I could sell them easily in the valley trader.

 

[351wcoupe]

Nope, 64 doesn't click when you try to start it. Where is the neutral switch located?

I'm not all that upset about the '89. I just wanted to drive it once before I sold it. And the guy who's buying it knows it doesn't start, so I'll let it be his problem. I'll probably just pull it over to his house with the truck. He was supposed to come over yesterday to pick one of em up but once again he didn't show. I'm going over to his place tomorrow to see whats up...ask him if he really wants these cars, cause otherwise I could sell them easily in the valley trader.

The nuetral switch where I last saw it on one of those was on the driver's side where the shift goes into the trans. That is on C3, C4, C5, and C6. I'm not sure about the FMX but its probably all the same.

Just keep your 89 if he doesn't want it. That looks like a great car for the swap. fix the head gasket on the coupe and you can get $1k out of it in good running condition.

 

[notched86]

The nuetral switch where I last saw it on one of those was on the driver's side where the shift goes into the trans. That is on C3, C4, C5, and C6. I'm not sure about the FMX but its probably all the same.

Just keep your 89 if he doesn't want it. That looks like a great car for the swap. fix the head gasket on the coupe and you can get $1k out of it in good running condition.

Yeah, it would, but I want to drop the TC guts into a coupe. I like the looks of the 87-93 coupes the most, and I like the fact its more structurally ridgid. Plus the paint is totally shot on that 89. If you run your finger across the body, your finger will be covered in black paint. It is just comming right off! There is also a pretty good crunch in the fender and door from the stupid previous owner's truck. I would have used the '86 for the swap, but I thought the carb to EFI conversion would have just complicated things more. I thought about replacing the head gasket, but I have never done a job that big, so I'm kind of weary of it. I know how to get it done, but I don't have that much experience. Ben has some experience rebuilding small v-twins, maybe he could help me. That is if old guy decides to not buy the cars.

 

[351wcoupe]

definately a good call on the carb to turbo EFi swap thing. If you've never done it, it might become a "job" Get them both running. Get $2K total for them seperately and you'll have enough to get the TC, drive a while and buy another coupe. lol maybe by then I'll have a coupe to sell you.
Wish I would have known....I sold my 89 coupe the night before we left for carlisle.

 

[notched86]

Well I came back from work today and my dad had already took the 64 over to the shop, so I never got to see what it was. Guess we'll find out. He's also getting that leak fixed.

As for the '89...the battery may very well be toast. The guy who was supposed to buy them brought over this battery, and it looks pretty old. I dunno, I got the Haynes manual, so I'll go through the whole trouble shooting list and try to see if I can find anything, just for fun.

 

[351wcoupe]

thats not a bad idea. just to learn more about these cars.

 

[JamesBaumann]

My two cents is always to start with the easiest stuff and work your way up until the problem is rectified. The problems you're having with the 89 sound like they are electrical power related. Like, something in your charging system isn't working right. Have you done anything to the battery lately? It is very easy and cheap to replace battery cable ends. I've seen many times that there is corrosion all over the battery terminals. It has white, grainy texture. If you have an old toothbrush or anything you can just clean up those battery terminals, then replace your battery cables, and like 351wcoupe said, it might not be a horrible idea to get a new ground cable for it. You see? All the easy stuff first. Then if that doesn't fix it you can try things like getting your alternator checked, and working your way through the charging system. Do you have a code reader? You could always pull it for codes, ya never know, it may give you something.