Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.105] on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at 16:37:16 :
In Reply to: electrical plan to fire up engine posted by scott 56 [24.130.234.60] on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at 00:46:13 :
When I just want to see if it runs, I get a battery, a jumper cable, and one piece of smaller wire with a gator clip on each end. Jumper cables go from battery to starter (one to heavy copper post and one to block or frame) Smaller cable gets clipped from the "hot" starter terminal to the coil. Ballast resistor is optional if you just want to fire it up and see if it runs. That's all you need. No alternator, no switches, no gauges, no need to mess with whatever dubious wiring is already in the truck, except to disconnect it from the starter and coil.
A well-charged battery will start the engine many times and let it run for hours, but if you run it down, just clip your battery charger onto it and plug it in. The key at this stage is to keep it bone-head simple so you're not wasting time futzing with electrical stuff when you really want to check out the engine.
You probably want to hook up a mechanical oil pressure gauge so you can make sure it has oil pressure once it's running.
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