1976 Ford Midas mini 191 (chateau)

[LeuCypher]

Hello all
I acquired a Ford Midas mini 191 (aka chateau) 1976

I get no power to anything when both batteries are plugged in.

Also there is just one wire (the main hot wire) from the solenoid to the starter the starter seems to be missing the solenoid up top and I can't find the harness that would go from either solenoid to the starter.

Where can I find a Haynes or Chilton or equivalent that will give me color codes and part numbers for my RV? Does anyone have the wiring diagram for this model / yr

[CharlesinGA]

There is a Vintage RV discussion forum on this board also

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f65/

It is found in the iRV2 Community Forums section just above the motorhomes section. You may have better luck there.

Charles

[GypsyR]

Ford of that age were much simpler. The solenoid up close to the battery is it. From there it's just one big wire to the starter. You can check to see if you have power from the battery to the solenoid to the starter by jumping straight across the two large terminals on the solenoid. Use an old screwdriver or something you don't care about because when you do it it will spark on the screwdriver. Doesn't hurt anything else but it will take a chunk out of and ruin a knife blade. (Ask how I know)

If it does nothing but does spark a bit, you may have a starter issue. If no spark or anything, then either you don't have power to the solenoid or the engine ground is bad/disconnected. The starter motor is so simple it just needs power from that one cable and it's grounded by being bolted to the engine.

If that makes the starter work then you can back up and test the solenoid. It should have two much smaller electrical connectors. The one closest to the battery cable side is the one that operates the solenoid when you turn the ignition key. Pull the wire off it and use your screwdriver (or whatever) again to make a connection from the big battery side cable terminal to this little terminal. This will give you a much smaller contact spark and hopefully turn the starter. (All this stuff is partly how people used to hotwire and steal old Fords).

If that turns the starter but the ignition key doesn't then you need to pull back and start looking at the ignition switch area for problems. A cheap test light is a wonderful tool to help figure out such problems.

For diagrams about any 1970's Ford will be pretty darn close. A van in that year should be almost identical but possibly F100 pickup diagrams would be easier to Google up.