No electricity in the P15

[BobT-47P15]

The car is currently "dead as a doornail" as the old saying goes.

 

Turn the key and press the starter button.........nothing happens.  

Nothing is working.

 

The new battery appears to have 6 volts according to the multimeter today......and

the wires I've checked seem to have continuity.  Will check wiring on ignition switch

next.  It was running Sunday afternoon........shut it off......then nothing.  Had to push

it back into the garage.  Ah well........another mystery. 

[DonaldSmith]

No lights?  Check the ground cable and all the cable connections, of course.   If it's just the starter not working, try jumping the solenoid.  Make sure the ground circuit is complete. 

My DeSoto had a feature where the starter solenoid was grounded through the field of the generator.  With the engine not running, the ground was good.  With the engine running, the current in the field disrupted the ground, keeping me from grinding the starter with the engine running.  

However, I suspect that when the engine got hot and sat, the bolt at the post would expand, breaking the ground and keeping the car from starting.  The cure was a star washer, which I recommend at all the electrical posts (except the battery posts).

Now I have an alternator, and I had to connect the starter solenoid directly to ground.  I just have to keep from pushing the starter button when the engine is running. 

[T120]

You might check to see if your lights work and if so your battery is probably okay (also lighting fuse, and wiring to that point).I'd then turn the lights off ,turn on the ignition switch and jumper the solenoid.If your car starts okay then I would say your problem is between the ignition switch and starting motor.

Edited April 2, 2014 by Ralph D25cpe

[greg g]

Bob, check the connections on the battery side of the solenoid. I had symtoms like that and found the problem within that wiring cluster.

[BobT-47P15]

Oh.....and the battery is new.   I've been checking connections.    There are some wires I can't  tell where they go

as they are bundled with others and wrapped with electrical tape.   I may have known where some of them went

several years ago, but have now forgotten.   I replaced the fuse on the headlight switch, but the old one looked fine

and the lights worked previously.  I made some drawings years ago of most components of the system, such as

the solenoid.......listing where the wires went.  But there is a set of extra wires on one solenoid post (presumably

just for power) and I can't tell what they're for.  I suspect they are fine, but the wiring diagram does not show such

wires.  Will keep looking and trying things til maybe I stumble across the culprit.     

 

Thanks for the responses......it all helps.  

[navyboy]

^{nothing to add other than hi, travel through Joplin all the time.}

[Don Coatney]

Remove, clean, and replace the battery cables where they connect to the battery. Use sand paper on both the battery posts and the inside of the cable connections. They may look clean but my guess is they are not clean.

[BobT-47P15]

Wellll........the culprit seems to have been the battery cutoff switch mounted on the firewall.    It appears to be a

pretty durable item.....but for some reason it stopped working correctly.  When I bypassed it and

hooked the battery cable direct to the solenoid, the car started right up.  Now....on to hooking up my

two extra horns and siren and doing more cleanup--shineup of stuff that got dull and/or dirty from sitting

around for almost 3 years.   Thanks to all for the helpful advice.

[Don Coatney]

I have never seen the need for a battery cut off switch. Especially one that works when it is not supposed to.

[JerseyHarold]

Bob,

 

Has the engine roughness cleared itself up?

Edited April 2, 2014 by JerseyHarold

[Tom Skinner]

A 6 Volt battery should read out at 7.25 Volts Charged.

I'll bet if you slow charge that baby and look for loose wires 

you'll find your problem.

My Chrysler Royal 251 wouldn't Crank with just  6 Volts left in the battery.

[BobT-47P15]

 J Harold.......the engine ran rough when I first got the car back home.  Came to find out one plug wire was

pulled loose from the distributor.   Now it runs fine.  

 

What is the generator supposed to put out for voltage......7 or 8 V?     The ammeter needle stays just to the

minus side of center when idling......and even when revving it up a bit.  

 

Will try to check it with the multimeter,

but I'm no expert with that meter.  The instructions that accompanied it are apparently not for un-knowing

amateurs......who don't know what all those symbols mean.  I think I found volts, though.  And it has a

continuity tester with a weak little "beep" tone.  You'd think they could put something a bit more audible in

them.   Of course, I have a certain amount of hearing loss which probably doesn't help.