Short in the electrical system (1 Viewer)

[rocky mountain fj]

Hi all, I purchased a 3/77 FJ40 about two years ago and have been working on it steadily for the past six months. It was not running when I purchased it and was missing carburetor and ignition parts as well as most of the smog components. It has also been sitting for twelve years. I have cleaned the gas tank, replaced all the rubber fuel lines and vacuum lines. I re-built the carburetor and installed a Pertronix electronic ignition, a new coil and replaced the plugs and wires.
The problem I am having now seems to be some kind of intermittent short in the electrical system. When I get power to the wire controlling the idle solenoid I am not getting power to the starter solenoid, when the starter is working properly the wire controlling the idle solenoid turns to a ground. I am using a LED circuit tester to trouble shoot. I have tried jumping the idle solenoid to the battery but the will start but wont idle.
Any advice on what to try next will be greatly appreciated.

 

[rocky mountain fj]

Intermittent short in the electrical system

Hi all, I purchased a 3/77 FJ40 about two years ago and have been working on it steadily for the past six months. It was not running when I purchased it and was missing carburetor and ignition parts as well as most of the smog components. It has also been sitting for twelve years. I have cleaned the gas tank, replaced all the rubber fuel lines and vacuum lines. I re-built the carburetor and installed a Pertronix electronic ignition, a new coil and replaced the plugs and wires.
The problem I am having now seems to be some kind of intermittent short in the electrical system. When I get power to the wire controlling the idle solenoid I am not getting power to the starter solenoid, when the starter is working properly the wire controlling the idle solenoid turns to a ground. I am using a LED circuit tester to trouble shoot. I have tried jumping the idle solenoid to the battery, the truck will start but won’t idle.
Any advice on what to try next will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Pin_Head]

Your text color sucks.

LED circuit testers can fool you becuase they can't tell how much current is flowing or whether there is a voltage drop on the circuit. Anytime you get wierd results that you can't explain like that suspect a bad ground, like the ground strap between the engine block and the frame.

 

[rocky mountain fj]

Thanks Pin Head,
I grounded the battery to the block and ran a 4 GA cable from the block to the frame using one of the bolts for the alternator bracket. Still no luck, the idle solenoid won’t function. Any other ideas?