Been finally driving the car the last couple of days with no issues other than timing/carb and occasionally having the tach stuck. Dad brought it home this afternoon and put it in the driveway. I got home after church and went to fire it up to put it in the garage and it won't crank. I'm getting power to everything else. It's not clicking, but then again I don't think this car has a relay (69 442)

Would it be the solenoid, or the starter itself? To my knowledge, it may be the original..but regardless it was the one that sat in the barn with the car for the last 15 years.

Thanks in advance

 

The solenoid is a type of relay, and it makes a click noise when it engages. If you’re not hearing that, it’s possible there is no voltage present.

 

I would check all the connections before I started replacing parts. If it sat for 15 years, it could easily be a corroded connection. Check for the ones on the starter and check the engine grounds. A solenoid will usually click when it has gone bad.

 

Make sure the shifter is solidly in the park position. Check for voltage on both purple wires at the neutral safety switch with the key turned to start.

 

Thanks all. I didnt think to check the shifter, but will do that this morning in addition to double checking connections. Maybe with daylight something will jump out and make sense.

I had the thought last night for a breif second that since I heard the radio kick on..maybe that was the culprit as my 78 Delta 88 (first car) wouldn't turn on unless the radio was off. Not sure how they were related, but that's how it went..ha! Of course, I blamed that on the power antenna in that car. This car doesn't have that.

I'll head out as soon as the kid rolls of bed and update accordingly.

 

Is this an AT or MT car? Column or floor shift, and OEM or converted?

 

If there is power to the S terminal on the solenoid when the key is turned to the start position, the problem is probably in the starter. The solenoid ground is in the starter. If the starter has an open at the brushes or armature, you will get no sound when trying to start it.

 

AT. Was column shift but now floor shift.

Problem solved:
Got out there and tried the shifter first to no avail. Checked connections as best as I could and got nowhere. Was going to grab a board to put under the jack and before doing that I figured I'd try the shifter one more time and it worked.

Gonna have to adjust the shifter I reckon..but hey, at least it was a simple problem so far.

 

DING. DING. DING. We have a winner.

 

just out of curiosity, what would signal that as the winner?

 

Many of these intermittent no-start problems are from column shift cars converted to floor shift and either not properly adjusted or with the backdrive linkage left off (and yeah, I realize the OP's 1969 should have the NSS on the floor shifter if it was converted correctly). Sorry, but I've seen too many half-fast conversions.

 

Copy. I'd had issues previously with the conversion as the column wasn't quite in park and I didn't realize it and had one heck of an issue trying to get the key out