69 electra no start

[69electra225]

i've power goin to my dash now i just put a 455 engine in an went to turn it over an nothing.. i checked all my fuses an theyre all good except for one so i took fuse block out an saw that theres one gray wire an one green wire and traced green wire but it just goes to a 4 pin connector pretty sure its the AC fuse..im getting to the point where i dont know what to do next.. there is one pink and then one yellow wire for my engine harness that i dont know wat they're for they both have power goin to them when i have key turned on and wen i try to start i have no power so im guessing its a sensor.. i have power goin to my starter but no power to my green excitor wire on my starter?? any advice will help thanks so much

[WildKitty]

first thing I would check is to see if the engine block is well grounded to the body, and the ig switch is grounded (to the body) as well.. PLUS, the battery has to be grounded to the body and block.

I'll go out and look at my 455 (it's sitting onna trailer) - gotter fired up last month with just a basic wiring plan.

[bob k. mando]

have you actually jumpered 12v directly to the starter? you can get a known good auto battery set of jumper cables. crawl under the car and attach the neg cable to one of the starters mounting bolts. touch ( do not attach ) the pos cable to the ingition wire terminal on the starter.


you can test the starter yourself by doing that, or you can dismount it from the engine and take it into pretty much any auto parts store. most places have starter test stands now days.

[BigRivy]

This may sound kinda crazy but bear with me. I once put a new engine in my '71 Riviera and somehow, and with great mystery to me, during the install the neutral safety switch on the base of the steering column decided to quit working. After all kinds of monkey motion I called my Dad who had been an auto mechanics instructor for years at our local college. He figured it out over the phone after listening to me describe the situation. Much as you have described it here. So that being said, make sure it's in park or neutral when you are trying to start it, sounds obvious but you never know! If that's not it you can try pulling the neutral safety switch connector off the steering column and run a jumper wire between the terminals and see if it will start. If it does then you have found it, if not keep looking. If that is the problem I would recommend replacing the switch rather than leaving it bypassed.

[WildKitty]

not crazy at all BigRivy

I had the same thing on the Wildcat; I was looking for the source for the backup lights and left the connector off the column switch.

it was one of those cases where i was doing six things at once - had to backtrack every day for each day I was working on it - -

shined the light under the dash - - took turns kicking myself with my left and right foot

[WildKitty]

I can't find a green wire that goes to the starter on my 455. the exciter wire is a shielded resistance wire (white). the other wires should be purple or red.

dunno how different the color coding is between the 64 and the 69, but on the harness for the 64, the grey/green combination is for the dash lights (grey being the hot).

did the 69 have an external capacitor on the coil??

course, before you tax our brains any further, you gotta advise if you checked your starter and did everythig else that was suggested.