Starting problem

[johns81]

Has anyone experienced this one? The wife and I were buzzing around on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and we were bragging about how well the 81 was running. Stopped for petro and old girl would not start. Lights light up on dash -- but nothing happened. After that, we could hear a strange clicking noise coming from the steering column, sounded like the turn signal noise. Tried to start her again,,, nothing. Decided to remove battery cable so not to run down the battery. Then, I reconnected the cable and she STARTED. She has been starting the following 4 days after that. One of those things that make you go HHUUMMM, or just a dirty contact??

[GerryLP]

Originally Posted by johns81

...After that, we could hear a strange clicking noise coming from the steering column, sounded like the turn signal noise....

It could be the starting switch. 25 years of wear and dirt could be all she wrote. I had the opposite situation, where the engine would not shut off.

Of course, you don't want to rush and drop the steering column just to see if that's what it is, but if it becomes a more common occurrence, then I would definitely recommend just that.

As far as the weird sound, with so many contacts on the switch one tends to get weird sounds. Like I got the buzzard a few times when it happened to me.

GerryLP