[Kilbrie21]

A month ago I was replacing the front shocks on the ol' Galaxie and I noticed that the main line coming off of the master cylinder was not looking good. I barely touched it and it broke off at the brass proportioning valve. So in the end the best option was to replace the lines. Saturday I did the job, bled the brakes and felt pretty darned accomplished...being a novice.

Well, I took a short trip to the gas station to fill up..shut the car down...and it wouldn't start! Figures! All gauges, lights and anything else electrical worked fine...just no cranking. I banged on the solenoid a few times with no success. I called my wife, had her bring the jumper cables, bypassed the solenoid and she started right up. Drove her the 2 miles home...a bit bummed. About 1 mile down the road I got a pretty substantial squealing from the engine...not belts but something deeper. It drove fine and responded fine but the noise was not good... so I am crossing my fingers that it isn't a major issue, but do know that even at 66k miles, after 45 years of use it may be time to do a rebuild. Just not sure how my wallet will handle that right now. The noise is not there under about 30 mph or with little acceleration.

 

[Death Touch]

Not starting could be Nuetral Saftery Switch.
Try puting it in N and try starting.

 

[Kilbrie21]

I tried that....no luck there either.

 

[JCAllison]

got a pretty substantial squealing from the engine...not belts but something deeper. It drove fine and responded fine but the noise was not good... so I am crossing my fingers that it isn't a major issue

Hey Mr. K21,
Ms. American has had TWO instances of a "squealing from the engine".

The first incident was the Impeller in the Water Pump had come loose from the Shaft.

Upon starting there would be a squeal until the friction would cause the shaft to get larger and it would once again hold the Impeller tight. Didn't know what it was, but the culmination of it was one day the Impeller completely failed, and the Engine overheated. Fortunately was close to home and no damage was done.

The second incident was when the Outer Ring of the Damper (Harmonic Balancer) had come loose from the Inner Ring. It would squeal until it heated up and then it would stop. The latter symptom was accompanied by the odor of hot rubber.

The problem could be temporarily remedied by putting a bit of "thin" Cyanoacrylate (SuperGlue) on the Damper. THAT could have probably been done indefinitely, but at some point, one needs to use the Timing Light to time the Engine, and with a Damper that has come loose, THAT becomes impossible.

A re-built Damper was obtained from "The Damper Doctor".

Don't know that either of these incidents might be the cause of YOUR problem, but both of them caused an intermittent squealing when they happened to Ms. American.

HTH

JC

 

[Kilbrie21]

Thanks for the info - I will take a look tonight.

As far as starting...I am assuming that it is a bad solenoid but as I read through the forum, it could be a bunch of different things. One odd thing that happened when I started the car was I had no heater blower, no blinkers, no fuel gauge but the car would start. Then when the car wouldn't start, the blinkers would work, fuel gauge worked...etc. I did notice that when I turned the key to try to start the car, the fuel gauge would jump if I wiggled the key a little. Could this be something in the actual unit that the key goes into? If it is the culprit, are they able to be cleaned or should they be replaced?

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

Solenoid connections need to be CLEANED! Remove them all and wire brush them then reassemble. You'll be surprised.

I can't hear the squeal so I can't help, but JC gave you some pointers that should be checked over.

 

[mustang42782]

Im betting the squeal is a stuck engagement of the starter gear in the flywheel.

 

[Kilbrie21]

This is why this forum is a very powerful tool for a DIY. Once you really break these older cars down, with some great guidance, they are not as complex as they seem. I am picking up some new battery terminal wires & will clean all contacts. I work on vintage tube and solid state stereo components and cleaning contacts is something I do every day.....I should have thought of that first with the solenoid. After all, it is the same stuff I do...just bigger!

Thanks for the advice.

The starter is fine, the squealing is directly related to the engine, nothing external. I will get my mechanic brother-in-law over to help me troubleshoot that.

 

[puttster]

Does not seem like an engine can squeal, maybe when you were changing the plumbing for the brakes you mispositioned something with the power steering?

 

[Kilbrie21]

I will spend some time with it tonight to see what the issues are....and to clean the contacts.

 

[Kilbrie21]

I spent some time last night cleaning/replacing some things. I put in a new solenoid and battery cables, cleaned and treated all connections to the firewall. No luck, turn the key all accessories turn on but nothing is happening with the starter. I have never pulled apart the actual ignition that the key inserts in, could that be an issue? It has been intermittent. Is there a way to test for continuity on this to verify if that is the issue? This car is 46 years old... I figure even if an item like the solenoid was not the issue, replacing it would never be a bad thing. Murphys law will make sure that it would be the next thing to fail after finding the problem!

 

[70XL]

If the squealing was from the starter, as Mustang42782 suggested, then next thing is to check the starter. Pull the starter out and get it tested, if the problem is not obvious when you get it out.

 

[lagalaxie500]

I had that HIGH pitch squealling happen to a 64 Ford back in the 70s, I killed it and it wouldn't start . I pulled the pan and found that she had slung an insert.. HOPE this isn't your problem..

 

[Kilbrie21]

Some good news. I pulled the key tumbler in the ignition switch so that I could take a closer look at the switch & the wiper, spring and the back plate fell out... I think I found this no start issue! Thankfully they are readily available. Once that is done today I will take a closer look at the engine noise. Thanks for the info guys!