My '69 has always taken a while to get started, pulled it out of the garage yesterday and left it overnight - would not start today. Turn the key and not a single noise can be heard. Pulled the battery out and threw it on the charger - 100%.

My buddy says it's the starter - seems weird to me that there would be no "click" sound or anything coming, it's literally dead silent. All other electrical stuff works (lights etc.).

Can anything in the ignition switch possibly go bad? Or is the starter and solenoid the first thing to replace?



Thanks for saving my butt yet again.

 

Try tapping the soleniod with a screw driver handle or something similar to see if it's sticking. Did you try the old screw driver across the solenoid terminals yet?

 

I tried tapping the starter and solenoid with a hammer, no result.

What's the screw driver trick?

 

Check and make sure power is getting to the solonoid from the ignition switch when it is turned to the "start" position. If there is power getting to it, see if it clicks (put your hand on it and feel for it) whe the key is turned. If not, the solonoid is bad. If it does click, it is more than likely the starter.

 

Is this an automatic? May not be completely in park or maybe neutral switch bad.

 

To test this would I hook up a voltmeter to the S/I terminals on the solenoid, or somewhere else?

 

It is a 4spd manual

 

Just for the heck of it I stopped by the auto parts store on the way home and grabbed a new solenoid, ground strap, and battery cables. Checked the battery on the charger and cleaned the terminals and threw everything in that I bought...

Turned the key and still dead silent like there was no battery in the car.

Crawled under the dash and unplugged the harness from the ignition cylinder, the red/blue wire and green wire are split open and look pretty bad - gee wonder if that caused any problems LOL?


Tried to trace the wires but they disappear into a huge harness - did I fry something on the other end or most likely just the ignition cylinder?

 

Well, that should explain the problem. I believe that if you look at the relay, you'll find the other end of the red/blue wire. Can't remember what the green wire is for. I would blame it on old wires and repair it.

 

So you think repairing/splicing the old wires will do the trick?