What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Inline Fuse? Fuel pump relay? UPDATE

wheels87k5

wheels87k5

24 Karat
 Premium
GMOTM Winner
Joined
May 1, 2007
Posts
2,029
Reaction score
2,223
Location
Goddard, Ks
Got everything hooked up and was trying to start this K5 for the first time in 2 years. Once I had the positive battery side connected I could hear the "door open" buzzer. Sure enough, the door was open, so I shut it and the buzzer went off. I thought Great, now if only it will fire up.

Nope.....it would click at the solenoid. Turn the key and click. No starter, nothing. Just a click. I have the ford solenoid hooked up so I decided to take the solenoid wire and connect it to the actual starter solenoid. And moved the starter cable to the battery. Turned the key and snap. Now I don't have power to the ignition. No door buzzer.....nothing. I checked the fuse on the firewall and still have continuity there. Checked the fuses by the parking brake and all are good.

Any other fuses or inline fuse I'm missing?
 
Is there a black plastic thing on the line to the solenoid? if so, that's a fusable link
 
If so, there doesn't seem to be a way to replace it. Can you install a fuse link and if so, what size?
 
I just checked and there is continuity on both ends of the purple solenoid wire.
 
GM ones look like this, without the tab. You can replace it with an inline fuse if you have one, or 2 female spade connectors and a flat blade fuse until you know what it blew
upload_2020-8-23_16-53-25.jpeg
 
UPDATE: I connected everything back to how it was, using the ford solenoid, and have power back to the ignition. Door buzzer works again and the solenoid will click when I turn the key.

I took the started in and had it tested and it works great.

Scratching my head........:1zhelp:
 
Start using a 12v light probe. When you turn the key to start, you should have 12v at the small terminal on the ford solenoid. That should relay the big wire from solenoid to the starter to light up at 12 v too. You need a jumper on your starter. Is that installed? Picture of the ford solenoid wired up?
 
DSC_0374.JPG

Left post from battery....second post is ground....third post is starter solenoid....forth post goes to starter.

No....I don't have a jumper on the starter. It's a mini starter but not sure what brand. It was on the 1999 C3500 I bought. And then moved everything over to the K5. I don't think the jumper is the problem. I took the remote solenoid out of the equation and hooked it up to the starter solenoid and it shuts everything off. No power to the ignition.
 
Last edited:
Tomorrow, just to make sure, I'm going to add the jumper to the starter solenoid and see if anything changes. I had that jumper on the 350 TBI and it worked great. But that was using the bigger starter that comes stock.
 
Dumb question..
Did you verify that you have all good ground connections?
I have seen a bad ground cable cause crap like this. Just my shot in the dark.
 
6872xtc said:
Dumb question..
Did you verify that you have all good ground connections?
I have seen a bad ground cable cause crap like this. Just my shot in the dark.
Click to expand...

Do you know what all the grounds are?

Searching for my list of grounds for the K5......Going to check it twice.

EDIT:
Engine to frame
Engine to body
Battery - to core support
Battery - to frame
 
Last edited:
I normally run the negative battery cable directly to the engine block. The ones you have listed are all proper in my experience.
Use a set of jumper cables to add one from the battery to the engine and see what happens. Check the negative battery terminal closely. Lots of current going through it and typically we connect it last. Maybe it isn't tight enough?
 
You need to have a jumper on the starter for the Ford solenoid to work or a long wire from the large solenoid post to work. The Ford solenoid sends energy down the larger wire that triggers the jumper to engage the starter. The newer mini starters DO NOT like Ford solenoids with the jumper. I found that out the hard way.

This is how the Ford solenoid should be wired.
starter_solenoid-gif.349441


You can bypass the Ford solenoid by putting all the positives on one terminal and running the smaller starter ignition wire to the starter directly.
51NakPsxyPL._AC_SY355_.jpg


Where does that other small wire go thats on the solenoid (left side)?
 
This is how it was set up with the K5 with 350 TBI and jumper on the starter. Worked great.

When you say "Newer starters", how new? The starter I have now came with the 1999 C3500. Not sure if it's aftermarket or stock. It is a smaller starter than the stock ones that came with the K5. So I'm guessing that it is called a "mini starter".

Tomorrow I'll check all grounds and add the jumper to the starter and update the results.
 
wheels87k5 said:
View attachment 350519

Left post from battery....second post is ground....third post is starter solenoid....forth post goes to starter.

No....I don't have a jumper on the starter. It's a mini starter but not sure what brand. It was on the 1999 C3500 I bought. And then moved everything over to the K5. I don't think the jumper is the problem. I took the remote solenoid out of the equation and hooked it up to the starter solenoid and it shuts everything off. No power to the ignition.
Click to expand...

the click you hear is the ford solenoid, you need to provide a start signal at the mini starter, either a jumper or from the ford solenoid.
 
Yeah all newer 1996 and newer GM starters have the mini style. Just look my thread I posted not long ago.

Should not go to ground on the small wire on the solenoid. I never hooked anything to the "I" terminal on mine.

4terminal-relay.jpg
 
The ground on the I terminal is a direct short when you hit the starter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom