Ford Fastback electrical gremlin?? Please help!

[toofun]

OK Not very electrically inclined but here it goes. My car started yesterday after a jump start. It ran EXCELLENT. Then when I shut it down it would not turn over. I have what appears to be a BRAND NEW optima red top battery. So I put a trickle charge on it and let it fully charge over night. Went out to start it this morning and it would turn over fire up but the minute I let the key go it died. Did it again and again and did the same thing. I thought maybe there was not enough gas in it so I put more in. Fuel pressure gauge shows fuel is getting to the carb and the squirters are working. Waited a while to see if I flooded it tried again, same issue. Had my buddy play with the distributor and gas under the hood same results. Spark is getting to the plugs cause I took on ehfo the boots off, grounded it and you can see the spark. Fuel is there as well. So WHY does it turn over fire up and then die when I let off the key? Is there a way to check and see if I am losing power from the first key position? Does it even matter? Like I said not electrically inclined so any help would be appreciated on where to start with this electrical problem. Here is more info on the car.

302 motor, 4 speed, accel ignition and coil, electric fan with painless wire fuse and relays setup on it. Holley carb Double pumper. Like I said it is the weirdest think since it would jump start fine yesterday and ran AWESOME. Did I do something wrong by charging up the battery? I charged it at 2 amp setting on the charger with everything still hooked up to the battery. It charged all night and automatically shut off when it hit full charge! Oh one other thing.. I put the key in the on position and put on the lights and the windshield wipers. Both worked with no problems whatso ever. Dont know if that makes a difference but like I said just want to throw everything and anything out there

Mark
TOOFUN

[hivewax]

i'm no expert either. maybe check if you have a bad ignition switch or buy a new one. if it does the same thing, you can cancel that one out. check over the Vintage Mustang Forum for your problems.

[PROTREE]

sounds like what hivewax said bad ignition switch

[toofun]

But how do I prove that it is a bad ignition switch? I dont want to start replacing parts until I find out what is wrong. There has to be some method to check if this is the case? One thing I did find out is that with the key in the ON position there is no power going to the + side of the coil. I put the key in the one position, put a test light on the + side of the coil and it did not light up. I also disconnected that wire going to the + side of the coil put the key in the ON position put a test light to the wire and still it did not light up. But if that is the case then why does it fire up when it is in the start position? The same wire cant be hooked up to two different parts of the ignition switch? Like I said really need to get someone who knows electrical inside and out to help me out here. It is very frustrating just trying to guess and replace parts...

[wedgehead]

The ignition system could be hooked to the starter solenoid. When you turn the engine over it could be sending voltage to the ignition sytem through the solenoid. Thats why it runs when you are holding the key in the start position. I would look at the ignition switch as possibly being bad.

[toofun]

The ignition system could be hooked to the starter solenoid. When you turn the engine over it could be sending voltage to the ignition sytem through the solenoid. Thats why it runs when you are holding the key in the start position. I would look at the ignition switch as possibly being bad.

OK so let me see if I have this straight. When I turn the key to the START position it is sending power to the Starter solenoid which is turning the starter AND sending power to the coil which allows the motor to fire.... so does that mean that the ignition switch SHOULD be sending power to the coil when it springs back to the ON position? And if so I would assume if there is no power going to the coil in the ON position then the car would die? I just want to make sure I understand the process...

[falconwagon62]

on a Ford there is a S termial from Key, and a I terminal that feeds the Coil, a boost as it were to ensure 12+ V at start up

[hivewax]

http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/sh...p?tid/1507234/

check this post out... it might help.

[toofun]

HIVEWAX THANKS!! Thats gonna help me big time!!

Mark
TOOFUN

[Ron S]

Check the ballast resistor,that usually causes the only running with the key on start position thing.Ron

[toofun]

OK AGAIN.. I am really confused now and here is why. Here is a picture of my engine bay
ImageShack - Image Hosting :: motorj.jpg

As you can see there is three wires hooked up the the "I" terminal on the starter solenoid. A white wire, a yellow wire and a red wire.. The white wire runs DIRECTLY to the + side of my ACCEL coil. The only other wire that is connected to the + side of my ACCEL coil is another wire that runs DIRECTLY to my distributor. There is one wire one the - side of the coil but it runs DIRECTLY to the distributor as well. So I disconnected both wires from the + side of the coil and stripped the tape off the WHITE wire which like I said runs DIRECTLY to the "I" terminal of the starter solenoid. When I stripped this wire I found a metal wire with a black bulb type thing crimped to the white wire. It was about 6 inches off the +side of the coil. You can see it in this picture.
[img=http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/2870/0408090633.th.jpg]
So my question is, where to I go from here? How does the coil get power in the on position if it is wired this way. I guess I need an explaination on what wire does what from the Starter solenoid and how that white wire comes in play? Am I correct to assume that the switch leads directly to the "i" terminal and then runs power from that white wire to a resistor( black bulb thingy) to the coil? Is it wired correctly? I am assuming it was since the car ran like a top a couple of days ago with it being wired this way. What should I test now? Man I thought I had this thing licked but now I am scratching my head even worse!! Thanks in advance for all of the help out there.

Mark
TOOFUN

[toofun]

Bad ignition switch... FIXED!!