After Shipment Bronco will not start - Please help

[DSGStang]

I just moved from NJ to just outside of Houston, TX. I had the Bronco and another car shipped down. Bronco started up (as it has always) and drove on to the trailer in NJ just fine. When it arrived today it would not start. I turned the key and did not even hear the starter click. I figured they flooded it or did not pump the gas and killed the battery trying to get it started so I tried jumping it. No luck, the battery seems to work just fine and everything else works, lights etc... I then tried bump starting it. When we pushed it it was hard to push... felt like something was slowing it even when I'm neutral. It would not bump start. I ended up pushing it the rest of the way down the street to my house (18 wheeler did not fit down my street). I'm sure the neighbors love me already... ha.
Is there anyway they could have screwed something up when the chained it down to the truck. They had it super compressed down. Maybe where they chained it? It seems to be more than an electrical issue.
Anyone have any ideas of where to start.
Also I called the company and left a message. I gave them a great running Bronco and now there are issues. I hope to hear back from them tomorrow.

Thanks,
-Ryan

 

[blubuckaroo]

Something may be wrong with the neutral safety switch. Try moving the shifter while turning the key.

 

[ared77]

1) Automatic or standard trans?
2) "Harder to push" Are you sure, or maybe harder? Reason I ask is some vehicles are harder to push than others due to tires, tire pressure, 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive, weight, etc, etc. If in fact it is harder to push, then that may be something to do with the way it got strapped (chained?) down. Even if it is harder to push, with the trans in neutral, the engine should spin and start.
3) With a meter, negative on battery negative post, do you have +12 volts (12-14vdc actually) at the post on starter relay or solenoid where the positive battery cable connects? If yes, put it in neutral and have some one turn key to start. Do you have it on the other big post, where the cable runs down to starter? If yes, but starter didn't turn engine over, next test would be to check for same +12 volts at the starter post. Obviously be careful, use an alligator clip to run from your meter positive cable to the starter post so you don't have to be under Bronco when you have someone turn key to start position. I had a Mustang years ago that wouldn't start as we were about to leave a restaurant. I wasn't dressed to climb under car, etc so I just started to wiggle battery cables, etc while my wife tried to start it. When I grabbed the big black cable that runs down to starter it fired right up! Drove it back to home and later got under car and tightened up a loose starter cable.

Good luck, and let us know!

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, OK so you have been looking at the solenoid. The little wire near the big one from the battery is from the ignition switch. When you are cranking the a engine with the key this little wire should be hot. You should confirm that with a test light or multimeter by removing the wire from the post and checking for current while a helper turns the key. If there is nothing look at the neutral safety switch or try cranking in neutral. Make sure you are in neutral for this. If you still get nothing you can jump the post from the little wire (little wire off) to the big wire post and the engine should crank if there is nothing wrong with the starter. It will start if the key is on so be careful. That is where I would start. Good luck

 

[DSGStang]

Thanks everyone.
It is a converted 3 speed on the floor (from column).

Unfortunately I do not have any of my tools here yet. Moving truck shows up Monday so I can't do too much.
It looks like they were messing with the transfer case shifter because it was in 4H position.
Where is the neutral safety switch? I thought as long as clutch was in it did not matter what gear it was in. Is the switch connected to clutch pedal? I'll go check there.
I'll check the electrical once I get my meter but just looking at the wiring everything looks in place. I thought they may have crushed some wiring when they put chains over frame (starter wires are right around there). I do here the solenoid click as well so I think that is working. I'm going to run out and pull the little wire off of the starter/solenoid and inspect it further.

 

[DSGStang]

Success!!!

I tried jumping the small starter wire across the selenoid and she fired right up!

Does that mean the selenoid is bad or something else?

Thanks for the help

-Ryan

 

[gnpenning]

Sounds like you jumped from the battery to the S terminal on the relay. If that's what you did it worked as it should. The problem would be between the relay and were it gets power from. Wiring, ignition switch, if you have one neutral safety switch, etc. When you get your meter and tools you can start at one end and find were you are losing power. Until then a good visual and wiggle test will get you going. More than likely a loose connection.

If you jumped across the large terminals(battery and starter) then you don't know the condition of the relay .

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, there is no neutral safety switch on the stick shift. Test for current at the small wire when cranking as I mentioned before. At least now you can jump start it. Good luck

 

[blubuckaroo]

Thanks everyone.
It is a converted 3 speed on the floor (from column).

Unfortunately I do not have any of my tools here yet. Moving truck shows up Monday so I can't do too much.
It looks like they were messing with the transfer case shifter because it was in 4H position.
Where is the neutral safety switch? I thought as long as clutch was in it did not matter what gear it was in. Is the switch connected to clutch pedal? I'll go check there.
I'll check the electrical once I get my meter but just looking at the wiring everything looks in place. I thought they may have crushed some wiring when they put chains over frame (starter wires are right around there). I do here the solenoid click as well so I think that is working. I'm going to run out and pull the little wire off of the starter/solenoid and inspect it further.

Since yours has a manual tranny, there is no neutral safety switch.

You hadn't stated whether yours has an auto or manual tranny, but you did say it was in neutral.
Manual shift tranny's don't have a neutral like auto tranny's do. They are either in gear our out of gear.

This is the reason it's a good idea to list your vehicle's options in the signature space.

 

[fablife]

glad you got it started.. a funny story, a buyer from Calif. bought a Bronco from me a while back, he had the shipping arrangements made, drove fine up on the trailer, when it got to Cali, it didn't start either. we finally figured out it was the neutral safety switch, but it also had an extra 235 miles on the odometer!!! ya never know, lol...

 

[DirtDonk]

Did you say what year your Bronco is Ryan? Or did I miss it?
Either way, if it's a '73 or later model, it still has the wiring for the neutral safety switch.

As they've already said, yours would not have had the switch with the manual trans. But the same branch of the harness also carries the backup lamp wires and a small jumper that makes sure that the Red w/blue wire gets power to the starter relay.
Look just behind the engine and you should see the 4-wire square plug from the body/chassis side coming through the firewall, with a matching plug/connector coming from the steering column mounted backup lamp switch. You should also see two Black w/red wires for the backup lights, and the two Red w/blue wires with jumper.

If the plug is loose, or the jumper is melted or broken or brittle, it might not be making the connection.

Worth checking out anyway.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Oh, meant to say that, in other words, your starter solenoid/relay should still be good. Like gnpenning said, since it did exactly what you expected it to do it sounds fine.

The fact that you were not getting the signal from the key to the relay via the Red w/blue wire, that means that you still have an issue somewhere in-between.
Whether that's the jumper wire I was describing, or the ignition switch, or the wire itself, something is not letting 12v get to the starter relay.

I would check mileage as well. It's very possible (and completely legit) that the shipper needed to move vehicles around from one spot to another during transit. Should not be a common thing, but I can imagine it happening.
That might explain the t-case shifter in 4wd one would hope. But that also begs the question as to why anyone was in there messing about. What else were they messing with?

But as we've found out too many times here, strange coincidences happen with Broncos! How often have we heard stories of someone replacing a light bulb and the truck would not start after that! Or replacing a battery cable and the brake lights stopped working! And you can practically make up your own scenario and it's likely already happened to someone.

So your non-starting rig might be totally innocent and normal. But it's still worth looking into.
Maybe they were cranking the starter too much, or left the ignition switch on for some reason, and the old switch simply died in it's own sweet time.

Hoping for the best, as always.

Paul

 

[DSGStang]

I love this forum. I don't post often, mostly when I have issues, but you all are always super helpful.

Once my tools get down here I will dig into the issue further and see if I can track it down. Seems like when I have issues is the only time I get to tinker with the Bronco these days (two young children and work consume most of my time).

Super happy to have the Bronco off the street and tucked into the garage. Apparently my new neighborhood association forbids cars parked on the street overnight.

And it's a '75... I'll update my profile if it's not already there.

I'll update once I find the root cause.

Thanks again.

 

[ared77]

Fixed yet?

 

[DSGStang]

Not yet... I have a ton of boxes that need unpacking. I'm pretty sure the wife would not approve Bronco time until we're closer to moved in %) . Plus my garage is s mess need to organize all my tools and such. May get some time to work on it this weekend.

 

[ared77]

OK, Thanks. No rush, I was just curious. Keep the wife happy, or there may not be a Bronco to work on!!

 

[chuck]

Thanks everyone.
It is a converted 3 speed on the floor (from column).

Unfortunately I do not have any of my tools here yet. Moving truck shows up Monday so I can't do too much.
It looks like they were messing with the transfer case shifter because it was in 4H position.
Where is the neutral safety switch? I thought as long as clutch was in it did not matter what gear it was in. Is the switch connected to clutch pedal? I'll go check there.
I'll check the electrical once I get my meter but just looking at the wiring everything looks in place. I thought they may have crushed some wiring when they put chains over frame (starter wires are right around there). I do here the solenoid click as well so I think that is working. I'm going to run out and pull the little wire off of the starter/solenoid and inspect it further.

Above you typed that the solenoid clicks, if that is the case most likely it is bad but to be sure put your volt meter on the starter side of the sol. and make it click, if it reads 12 v you have another problem if no volts the sol is bad.

 

[DSGStang]

With Hurricane Harvey and flooding all over I'm pretty much stuck at home. Which means I had some time to play with the Bronco. Not sure exactly where to start the first thing I did was wiggle wires behind the ignition switch and around the starter solenoid.... no luck. I had a spare starter solenoid so I figured I try that. Wired it up, bolted it down... and now she cranks over just fine! I'm surprised it was that easy as I thought it would be something else.

Thanks as always for the help.

Not sure that she is ready to traverse the flood waters (I did think about it) but she'll be ready for some cruising when it drys up.

-Ryan

 

[Pa PITT]

OK DSGStang ..1st welcome to Texas .. Hate you got here in the Heat & Then a big Hurricane. We've got 2 sons in The KATY area.
... I seem to be the only one on this sight that has had this many issues with these solenoids. Take your old one with you.. You want one exactly like you have.
I had a parts store &sold parts for years . Like from 1967 until 1995 .. I was the old Mom & Pop in our town .. But for some reason there seems to be about 3 different solenoids. If you put the wrong one on it ... It'll blow the battery up.
SO I say take off your Positive cable. Mount every thing up proper but leave the cable off. Check out your work , once more. Now put your Positive cable on , BUT DON'T tighten it down yet. Now turn your key to on, & Step out and watch to see if there is any SMOKE ... GIVE IT A MINUTE.
IF NO Smoke then crank it & see if it starts .. If it just clicks then you've got to tighten the battery cable slightly but still not to tight. After it starts watch it close for a couple of minutes .. If it's running & It starts to SMOKE .. You'll need get that cable off fast.. IT'LL BURN YOUR FINGERS FAST..
... I Told a shop about this problem & They didn't believe me.. They buttoned it up completely & They Blew up a brand new battery .. & Ruined the new 1/0 battery cable & Ruined a new set of SNAP ON Duck Billed CUTTER PLIERS.
... THEY WERE shocked ..
.... I've seen about 5 battery's blow up.

 

[Crush]

Hey there Pa. ivennever had that happen before. Knock on wood. And i have used all different solenoid relays with all kinds of ford products. Right now im running a new flat mount relay for an explorer on my bronco. Starter is for a 94 f250 with 351 and 5 sp. alt is for a 2000 v8 explorer. Factory bronco wiring and i went through 4 differnt solenoids before i found one that actually started the truck. Lol. But never a blow up battery situation. Not sayin it cant happen but damn. U boew up that amny batteries that way?? Holy cow !! Lol