No start elec. Question

[hillcountrymac]

!(1985 Marathon will not start.Starter won't try to turn over.Battery is hot.All the grounds are good.Micro switch is good.On/off switch is good. Back up horn sounds when in reverse.It did this once before and I jiggled the forward reverse and it started.I thought it could be a ground or something,now it will not try to start in forward or reverse.I don't understand the elec. set up on this thing.I tried to jump across the solenoid ,but nothing.It looks like an old Ford solenoid and you just jump across them.I'm stuck,any ideas?

[racin161]

Welcome back Hill If in fact it is a car solenoid there is your problem. They are not continuous duty and will burn up. Frist though I would spray some carb cleaner or electrical cleaner in the f/r switch while moving it f/r then blow it out with compressed air do this 2-3 times trying to clean the contacts without removing it ok. Now try starting it again. To check the solenoid place a volt meter to the opposite big post the battery is connected to with key on and in forward or reverse now depress the pedal and you should see 12.8 maybe even a bit higher. If not solenoid is bad


LOU

[hillcountrymac]

I think you're right.The solenoid is hot on the small contact when depressed,but not hot on the large pole going to starter/gen. I just was puzzled by not being able to jump across.I replaced the old solenoid when I rebuilt everything thinking I was doing good.Didn't know about the continuous duty.I'll change it back as I am a hoarder and kept the old one.I'll let ya'll know.

[hillcountrymac]

Got it going!!! Solenoid was bad.The ground contact in the Forward/rev.switch needed cleaning and realignment.Yeah when you turn the spring loaded nuts in the switch, the oblong copper contacts in there can move.When they sit out of alignment the amount of copper to copper contact can be lessened.End result: dirty and not aligned was no ground and no go.I don't know if the diminished ground could have caused the solenoid to go bad or not,but I certainly learned a bit more about the Marathon.Thanks for the help Racin,and maybe we helped someone else.

[racin161]

Have a Happy April Fools Day

LOU