Electrical problems. HELP!

8122pbrainard wrote: Did you ever go after the problem with the volt meter

Yes. I tried and it did help with showing what was working and what was not working. The problem is that some voltage was able to get through the corrosion and I always showed enough voltage to the starter. Same with resistance. Everything seemed right. It was more of a current problem. I never had enough to actually crank the Ford starter. The way it would seem to reset itself was really throwing me too. I'm guessing there was enough voltage leaking through the corrosion to light the dash after battery reconnects. Not really sure.
The new wire is some high current 2 ga. that I use for car stereo installs. The individual strands are finer and more plentiful. We'll see how that works out. Liquid Tape comes in both black and red so it makes it very easy to mark positive and negative as well as seal the ends.

Thanks for the comments about the boat too. I love that boat. I just wish I could afford to take it out more than once or twice a week.

Wow I didnt notice you were workin on a reverse gel. Id venture to say thats the nicest looking 89 ive ever seen.

Listen to these guys. Every time ever Ive had a dirty terminal it clicks then you have to take it off and reconnect it. I always disconnect my battery when my boat is out of the water just to be safe then I twist it back on tight and if its not tight enough/dirty it clicks till you get it on right. Go buy yourself a good terminal cleaner at your local parts store.

Thanks everybody. I'll try all that tomorrow and let you know.

my first thought also, bad cable or bad ground, rule of thumb: 98% of ALL electrical problems are connections!!!!

8122pbrainard wrote: You don't need to answer the above. I just did a search from your profile and came across your post on "high speed double teak surfing" . I forgot you were the one who did that. Now I understand you have been breathing exhaust fumes and have had your head bashed around a few times.

I don't mean to hijack my own thread.... I just had to post a link to our brain dead video one more time. High speed double teak surfing
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME OR ANYWHERE ELSE

It's ok. the neutral safety switch is jumpered right now just to rule it out as being a culprit.   Yes, I do have a meter and have been testing it. The reason why I think the battery is bad is that I'm showing a back swing on the meter with every tick of the clock. I'm charging the battery again right now with the radio disconnected. I'll check in a little while if I'm making progress. I'm pretty sure the radio is toast and was drawing too much current somehow. Not sure yet though. Any idea why everything would come back after disconnecting the battery for a couple seconds?

The neutral safety switch is bypassed. I'm pretty sure the louder click is the starter solenoid pulling in. However, there was also a fairly quiet click from under the dash.

On my 89 2001, starter would not turn over. I charged the battery and tried again. It clicked, then nothing. The gauges wouldn't even light up. I took the battery to Wal-Mart. They said the battery was ok and just needed a charge.    I bought a new chager thinking mine was bad. Charged battery. Gauges now lit up. When I went to crank it over, click, everything goes dead. Pulled started thinking it had a dead short. Starter mechanic said it's good and that Ford starters need a lot of current. Along the way, I discovered that after the dreaded click and nothing, no matter how charged the battery was, the gauges would not light until I disconnected the battery and re-connected. Is that weird? Completely isolated radio and tried again with jumper cables from my car. Everything lit up and starter tried to crank. Not enough juice with just the car battery and jumper cables. I'm now pretty sure that the battery Wal-Mart said is ok is actually not ok. I'm also pretty sure that my radio is shorted out. What has me baffled is the way I have to disconnect all the power from the boat and re-connect after a couple seconds in order to get the gauges to light and try to start. Is there a breaker that resets itself upon disconnecting the battery?