Starting Question

[green68250]

Hey,
When I bought my '68 they guy who sold it to me said that you had to hold the shifter up into park for the truck to start. He said it was some type of Ford thing that they put into the trucks. It is true that my '68 will only start if you hold the shifter up but I was wondering if this is a feature or somehting wrong with the ignition? The reason I ask this is because I was looking at a truck today and you had to do the same thing to get it to start and then finally the ignition went out and it wouldn't start at all. So I was just wondering if it was a factory thing or not.

Thanks,
Corbin

[Thunderfoot]

That's a problem with the Neutral Safety Switch, it is mounted on the Steering column under the dash. They can get out of adjustment... It will have 4 wires on it, 2 are for the NSS and the other 2 are for the reverse light switch..
Either your NSS got to far out of adjustment or went bad, or your ignition switch could have went out also...

[green68250]

So if the ingniton was bad on my truck it wouldn't even start, right? How would I adjust the NSS? Is there even a way. Thanks for the help, it would be nice to not have to hold the shifter up everytime I go to start it.

Corbin

[fordman]

to adjust the nss . it is on top of the column inside the truck near the firewall. there are two 5/16 headed screws that can be loosened. once they are loose you can slide the nss slightly around the column until the tang sticking out fo the column touches the nss lever. then retighten the bolts. that should be real close. you can always readjust that too. for the switch. can you jump the solinoid and get it to start? if you can then i would say its a bad switch also. the switch must be on in order to jump the solinoid. to jump the solinoid put a screwdriver from the large terminal closest to the battery and the smallest terminal to the battery. dont remove any wires.

[Thunderfoot]

Also, if you have a test light you can check if your ignition switch is bad by testing the wires on the NSS. There are Red-Blue Stripe wires (Starter wires) and Black-Red Stripe wires (Back up wires). Put the test light on Red-Blue wire that is going to the ignition switch and turn the key to activate the starter, if it lights up then the ignition switch is good, if it doesn't then it is bad...
If your not sure which one goes to the ignition try them both one should work, both should work when you get the NSS adjusted right...

[green68250]

I haven't jumped the solenoid before. Can you explain it again? I need to put the scredriver on the starter solenoid terminal closest to the battery and then what? Sorry for the beginner question.

Thanks,
Corbin

[fordman]

then the closest small terminal to the battery. the front two terminals touched together. that is the cheating way to start it.

[1971ford]

in my 71 you had to do the exact same thing, only because i was too lazy to adjust the switch at the moment. all i did was loosed the screws (like said before) and move the NSS a little. now it works great.

[green68250]

Yeah, I just went out and adjusted the NSS and now she starts fine and I don't have to hold the shifter up. Thanks for all of the help, I couldn't have done it without you guys!

Thanks A LOT!!!

Corbin

[Thunderfoot]

Dang your Fast Glad that is all it was.

[1971ford]

my dad took mine apart and cleaned the contacts too, i think it really helped, since the contact were so dirty

[green68250]

Yeah, when I learn something new I have to see if it works as soon as possible. I went right outside with my flashlight and my 5/16 and took care of it. Thanks again for all of the help!

Corbin

[1971ford]

^
i do too! like yesterday when i found out that my 71 should have two wiper speeds dark at night, i had to run out and see.