Pressure Wash Blunder

[Dodger]

So I decided to pressure wash 70 years of oil buildup on my 53 Dodge truck.  That was a mistake !!   I was successful in cleaning up the engine, firewall, and cloth insulation from some of the wires.  I've allowed the truck time to dry and taped up a lot of the wires, but the truck still won't respond.  My running and headlights work fine, but I get nothing from the starter.  It used to turn over and run fine.  Any ideas on why the starter won't turn over?  The instrument also oil, battery ..ect don't move either.  I'm getting 6 volts to the starter. Also getting 6 volts to the coil when I turn the key.

 

I do plan on replacing the wire harness as it's so brittle, but I just want to get it running again before I start that project.  I known good first.

[Bobacuda]

If you are confident you reinsulated the wires, try pulling or pushing it to start it.  Once it’s warm, it should cook out any residual moisture. 
 

However, make damn sure your wires are insulated and have a fire extinguisher in case you missed some. 

[bkahler]

Where is your battery grounded at?

[Dodger]

I only put the positive lead on while I'm present.  Plenty of fire extinguishers.  The battery is grounded (+) factory on transmission and (-) on starter.

[Dodger]

Could I have soaked the starter and caused it not to work now? Is there a way to for the starter to turn over?

 

[bkahler]

7 minutes ago, Dodger said:

I only put the positive lead on while I'm present.  Plenty of fire extinguishers.  The battery is grounded (+) factory on transmission and (-) on starter.

 

I have a Cushman Truckster that had problems getting the starter to work whenever it got rained on.  After much searching I found that the connection where the cable from the battery to the frame was made failed whenever it got wet.  Once I relocate that connection point to a place where it didn't get wet the problem went away.  You might want to disconnect the ground pounds, dry them off, lightly scuff them to where they are bright and then reconnect them.  At least it's something easy to try before pulling the starter.

[Dodger]

I'll check that connection on the transmission, but if my lights are working shouldn't i have a good connection?

[bkahler]

Lights draw a lot less current that a starter motor.  If the connection between the transmission and engine is rusty, water just exacerbates any effect the water might have.

[Los_Control]

Go grab a beer and relax .... is normal.

You have a stomp starter and the stomper (solenoid) likes to rust up if not used.

By adding water to the equation the stomper has rusted or corroded  over faster.

 

I use to take the solenoid on top of the starter apart and manually clean it to remove corrosion and get it to start working again .... probably a good idea to do it one time to see how it all works.

 

Then I got lazy and just started pushing the starter pedal about 50-75 times and it would self clean and start working again without taking it apart.

 

My truck is still not on the road, I do start it up and move it around the yard from time to time .... when I let it sit for long periods, the starter pedal does nothing and makes no connection.

Hit it with water and will speed up the process ..... I use to take it apart and manually clean it .... now just stomp on it a bunch of times and it self cleans.

[Dodger]

So ... I cleaned the cable (+) to the trans and pumped the starter.  After about 15 hits it started to turn over.  It turns over just fine, but still no joy with actually firing up.  I'm not getting any fire to the plugs.  I'm getting 6 volts on each side of the coil.  The dist cap looks good and there's no water in the distributor.  Any advise on what to look at to get the spark flowing again?

 

The truck ran before I pressure washed it.  Thank you for the advise.

[Dave72dt]

Follow the electricity.  Coil into the dist? Points ? Spark at points? Condenser?

[LazyK]

Water in the distributor. If you tried to start it while wet, good chance the water formed carbon tracks. Only solution is to replace the cap rotor and condenser.

Edited November 29 by LazyK

[JBNeal]

My '49 was sidelined for awhile due to a non-start issue...I followed the circuits, and figured out that the original wire that ran from the coil to distributor had corroded so badly inside the rotten cotton-braided insulation that not enough current was flowing to the distributor...after I replaced that few inches of wire, it started right up. 🏆

Edited November 29 by JBNeal

[Los_Control]

If you remove the cap and find nothing wrong .... WD40 is worth a try.

Spray it inside the distributor liberally also the inside of the cap.

 

WD40 I believe was first invented by the military as a wing deicer for airplanes. It's job is to displace water.

So if you do have moisture in the cap preventing it from firing, is possible WD40 will help.

 

When I was a kid and would take my car to the car wash and clean the engine, I would always bring a can of WD40 with me just in case I got water in the distributor.

 

I would definitely reset and clean the points while in there .... I always use a business card afterwards,rotate distributor to close the points then drag the card through to wipe off any oils or grease and would also remove moisture.

 

Just a simple thing that is worth a try.

[Dodger]

Appreciate all feedback.  I noticed that the insulation on a 3" wire coming from the distributor feed to the points had most all insulation warn off.  I put a piece of heat shrink in it and replaced it.  I shot WD all over as well as replaced the condenser.  Truck started after a few minutes of cranking. 

[Merle Coggins]

You mentioned that you have 6v on both coil terminals. This is correct when the points are open. When the points close you should loose power on the + side of the coil because that wire gets grounded by the points. As Mr. Neal stated, if the wire between the coil and distributor is compromised you could be loosing the connection through there. You could retest your voltage here, being sure that the points are closed. Or, you could also check the voltage at the + terminal at the coil, and again at the distributor terminal, to verify if you have voltage at both ends of the wire.