QuestionQUESTION: Hey Dick...How ya doin???Ok I got the ignition rewired the right way....I got a schematic for it and got er hooked up exactly how it shows for the 72R series Roadmaster. Although The ignition switch isnt marked I think I got it...The bottom terminal is hooked up to the ignition.the terminal on the right is hooked to the Gas gauge ,heater blower etc...The terminal on the left hooks to the charge indicater/battery/generator regulator..When I check the continuity in the off and lock position the only response i get from the terminals is the terminal that is hooked up to the charge indicator...When in the on position I get a response from all three terminals.Meaning the light comes on on my tester...I do have a voltmeter but did not use that....As you can probably see I am not much of an electricity man....Let me know if this sounds right to you...Ass far as the lock and off positions you are correct..and it only has three positions..
As far as the starterator let me try to explain myself....When you turn the key on and push the peddle down.the trottle opens and pushes a ball berring which pushes a spring to make the contacts close on the vacume switch which in turn allows the current to flow through relay and starter solenoide...to start the motor...Now if there is a problem with the solenoid like worn brushes or something couldnt that be my problem???
ANSWER: You have correctly described the operation of the starterator. The only thing left to do is to make sure the wires on it are connected to the right places, as I said before. If they are, and it still doesn't crank the engine, do this:
With the key on, take a jumper wire and momentarily connect from one terminal on the starterator to the other terminal on the starterator - in doing this, you are bypassing the switch. That should cause the engine to crank, because if the other wires are now correct, you are effectively jumpering from the "A" terminal on your ignition switch to the solenoid terminal on the starter, thus putting 6 volts on the solenoid, and that is what causes the starter to crank. Be sure you DO NOT ground anything, by the way!
If doing that makes the engine crank, you know that your wiring is correct, and so if the starterator still doesn't work by using the gas pedal, it must be not working. These are a bit tricky to repair - but you can always add another push button switch somewhere on the car, connected to the same two terminals, to give you another way to start the engine while you look for a replacement starterator. Just be aware that the added starter button will crank the engine even if it is already running, which the vacuum lockout feature of the starterator was designed to prevent.
A good starterator should be available from the Kanter Brothers in New Jersey, since Packard used the exact same setup for many years (that is why I am so familiar with it).
Dick
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QUESTION: I checked my switch with jumper wire but nothing...I checked wires to the terminals on the switch with a 6 volt test lamp and the light lit up on the wire that goes to the solenoid relay when the key is on but didnt light up on the wire that goes to ignition switch/ gas gauge/ heater blower/ directional signal via fuse block...that wire should be live also correct??? I checked the fuses and heater a directional fuse seems to be good but the dome light fuse is blown so i will change that out....what do you think???
ANSWER: A couple of questions for you, one by one:
1. You checked by connecting the two terminals on the starterator together, with the key on, but the starter did not crank - have I got that right?
2. When you used the test lamp, you put it on the one terminal of the starterator that made it light up, but I need to know where you connected the other lead of the test lamp, because something still isn't making sense to me. Same for testing the other lead on the starterator - where was the second lead of the test light connected?
3. Before, when you were testing the ignition switch with the wires where they are now, you did see 6 volts on the "A" terminal - right? That terminal should be connected to the startertor - so it should have the same 6 volts on it.
4. Back up here a minute. Before we did anything, you were making the starter crank the engine by putting a wire on the solenoid terminal, right? The wire you were using - where did you have the other end of it connected to make the starter crank? I assumed you had it on the + terminal of the battery, so as to be putting 6 volts on the starter solenoid to make it crank. Please verify that is what you were doing.
The dome light is on a separate circuit - it is not connected to the ignition switch wiring, so let's leave that problem for later. Most likely its problem is a bad door switch connection - but I think that is unimportant for now.
Dick
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QUESTION: 1. correct
2.After I used the jumper wire and nothin happened,I disconected the wires one at a time and grounded my test lamp and probed each wire one at a time with the key on and with the key off.As I stated earlier the wire leading to the solenoid lit up. But the other lead did not when the key was in the on position.Both leads checked one at a time with key off, the test lamp did not light up..I would think that both leads would be live with the ignition turned on and both would be off with the ignition off.
3.I just checked the terminals with the test lamp...
4.Actually I used a screwdriver and grounded it between the #1 and #2 terminals on the starter relay...
I will be out of town tomarrow and friday so you might not hear from me in a few days...Electrical stuff always seems to get the best of me...Lack of confidence I guess lol..
Thanx for all your help and sorry for the confusion I must be giving you....
AnswerMike, I really want to stay with you on this until we get it figured out, but I have a problem too - I am about to sign off of the All-Experts site for a week while we travel to our daughter's home in Tucson for the Thanksgiving holiday - so I won't be here from this Saturday on to December 2nd or so.
On your answer to question 4 above, I think we have a terminolgy problem again. When you say you used a screwdriver between two terminals, you mean that you connected them electrically with the screwdriver, right? (You didn't "ground" anything - that would have meant you connected them to ground.) Please verify that I've got that right.
I'm not familiar with your exact starter design - but now I see that I gave you one piece of bad information. The two wires on the starterator switch should be connected to what you are calling terminals 1 and 2 on the solenoid - since we know that the screwdriver making contact between those two terminals on the solenoid makes the starter crank, the starterator can do exactly the same thing, if it is working right, namely connecting the two points together. Forget what I said about running one of the starterator wires to the ignition switch - your car doesn't need that, because there is a terminal on the solenoid that provides the 6 volts for your starterator to operate with.
OK, have a few days off, and I will too! Talk to you after that.
Dick
