Left Ignition On, Now Won't Turn Over

dwick01

dwick01

Senior Member
I forgot and left the ignition on in my '47 super deluxe v8 all day and all night. I charged the battery up and it is now at 6.5 volts according to voltmeter. When I try to start it, it won't turn over. Just steady clicking as though the battery is low. I am not very good with a voltmeter, so I don't know where to start looking.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
first off make sure the connections are all clean it is an old saying but it is important sounds like dirty connection at battery.depending on cable length on your meter put pos. or neg. cable on neg.post on battery then place other cable on the nut or threaded bolt?that the cable from battery bolts to not the cable itself it should show the same as battery voltage to solenoid.I think that is your problem if nothing else it is a place to begin.PS set your meter on 20 volts dc most I have dc will be to left
 
just seen your post about voltage at coil your battery is low should read 6+ at minimum.I see you do know how to use meter
 
Sorta kinda know how to use it. The battery is actually at 7.6 volts and I also check from the negative side of the battery to the nut on the firewall and it is the same. So that part looks pretty good.

I am getting 6.16 volts at the coil.
 
Is that 7.6v reading without the engine running? The battery should be around 6.5v (or a little less). If you have good battery voltage, then the issue is most likely in the starter solenoid to the starter circuit. Check the voltage at the battery side of the solenoid, it should be the same as the battery voltage. Next I would check the cable to the starter is see if the connections are clean on both ends. And check the ground surfaces of the starter.
 
Yes, without engine running. I just checked it again and it says 7.26 volts. Could the battery be somehow shorting?
 
Is your voltage of over 7 volts with the charger on the battery, or immediately after removing it? If so it is possible the battery is bad. Batteries can hold a temporary surface charge that's normal, but still not be able to deliver enough current to crank the engine. Do a load test on the battery to eliminate that problem. Also as others suggest, check connections for good clean contact.
 
If it'll hold the charge after 12 preferably 24 hours any thing over 6.30-6.5 volts chances are its good.
Any thing under 6.25 says it's only 80% charged.
 
Put gearshift in high gear and rock the car back and forth to see if the starter may be jammed into flywheel.
 
Surprised that nobody mentioned that leaving the key turned on for long enough to drain the battery will in all probability burn up the points in the ignition. Burnt points won't stop the engine from cranking, it will stop the engine from starting. Been there, done that.
I would make a guess that your solenoid is bad and/or the battery is weak.
Do you have a battery tester, in lieu of a volt meter. There are two ways to test a battery. 1. with a hydrometer, a fully charged 6v battery should be 11.25 in each cell as I recall. (Going by memory here.)

.2. A battery voltage tester will test for voltage, then when you switch to the Load Side, it will show the actual available power in the battery.. If the voltage is low the needle will drop to yellow or red.

If you go looking for a hydrometer the parts stores will look at you like you are nuts. Been there, done that. Amazon sells them.
I have a diesel motor home that has six, 6 v. batteries for "house power" running through an inverter to make 110 v. The chassis has two very large 12v batteries to start the engine and/or on-board generator.
I have to keep a close watch on my 6v. batteries, if the water is low in one battery cell, it will knock out all of the batteries beyond that battery. The six, 6v batteries in theory put out 36 v, however they are hooked up in a series, maybe it is parallel, can't remember which, so the end result is 12v with lots of amps.
 
A foot note about hooking up accessories in an Early Ford V8..
It is a very bad deal to hook up accessories, radio, heater, etc., to the ignition switch. The original Ford ignition switch was not designed to carry the load of accessories. If you hook up a radio to the ignition switch, the switch has to be ON in order for the radio to work, leaving the switch turned ON without the engine running, can, and will burn up the points in the ignition.
The majority of the accessories during the '30-40's were dealer installed and therefore they were never hooked up via the ignition switch..
 
Final note on 'left ignition on' thread. I charged the battery, and was able to start the car. There may be some damage in the electrical system, but as yet , it has not surfaced. Thanks for your input!
 
I had the battery load-tested and the results were good. Ordered a new solenoid and will install it this week. I will report back the results. Thanks to everyone who have responded.
 
hope that was your problem.leaving key on would not hurt solenoid as it only comes into play when using starter to crank.
 
dwick01 said:
I had the battery load-tested and the results were good. Ordered a new solenoid and will install it this week. I will report back the results. Thanks to everyone who have responded.
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking ... probably a bad solenoid.. Are your points burned? ;)
 
Uh Bubba, I think it was the guy on the other "No Start" thread that got his going.

EDIT : Now that I look at it closer, I don't think it's Bubba who's a little confused.
 
Yes, Gordon got on the wrong thread by mistake.
Back to my problem. I finally got it going and I must not have left the key on, because there is no problem with the coil. The starter was not stuck. I am embarrassed to say, it ended up being the negative battery cable! The cable that was on there was very heavy duty, looked like welding cable and it was wrapped with a cover. The cable was very old but I didn't suspect it being a problem because how heavy duty it was. After putting the solenoid back on I tried to start it and got the same result. I checked to see if the connections were tight and moved the cable and it started. I turned it off and tried to start it again and it wouldn't go. That's when I found the problem. Now it is starting perfectly.
Thanks to everyone who responded. Much appreciated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top