77 Scout Travelall 345 no start

L

LYinKansas

New member
Hey all, just need a few opinions on what's up with my Scout. It's been sitting since the summer and I'm about to buy a 69 pontiac lemans project car and tow it home so for the previous couple of days I have periodically been going outside, starting it and letting it run to get it ready for the 80 mile trip. This morning I go outside, give the pedal 3 pumps and she fires right up. I go inside to get ready to leave and I hear it shutoff after about 10 minutes of warming up. Go back outside and turn the key and it won't even crank, the ignition clicks but no crank. I'm thinking the starter went out? Any suggestions on a quality replacement?

Thanks all, oh and it has the 345 in it.

-joel
 
Im always a fan of kiss try having the battery and alt tested.if it wont start battery cheap and easy to do same with alt
 
So is it a Scout or a Travelall, they are two different vehicles. Suggestion for a quality replacement, have you tried napa?
 
A traveler?

A bad starter would not cause the engine to die, imo

sounds more like an electrical problem -- battery, battery cables, wiring, bulkhead connector, altenator.
 
Checking associated electrical components and connections is always a good place to start as suggested previously. Maybe it ran out of gas which caused it to die and the non-cranking sitch is a totally unrelated gremlin.
What transmission does this have? How long did it sit non-running with the key on before you went out and tried to re-fire?
 
Lol of course I could goto napa. Heard some good things about mean-green starters and was wondering about it, and any others that are suggested. Of course I made sure the connections were clean and secure. They needed cleaning of course, but it didn't help. Dad thinks I coulda drained the battery letting it sit there and run without driving it, but the headlights aren't dim at all still bright has plenty of charge. It's only sat for about 5 months with the monthly start up to make sure everythings still working. It has been taking the starter awhile to turn the motor lately which is what my assumption is that it was already on its way out. My grandpa suggested that when it warmed up it would screw with the starter and if you turned it off, you couldn't turn it back on until it cooled. Not a bad suggestion either, but I didn't turn it off it did it by itself. Also, after I let it cool down it still won't start. The moment I heard it shut down I ran out there seeing as that's never happened before, maybe 20 seconds those wires really heat that fast?? Thanks for the quick responses all, if I spun a bearing or something I'm going to be a very sad panda. = (
 
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Oh yeah, it's got gas even added some to be on the safe side, but she won't even crank. Just added about 1/3 quart of trans fluid to the motor to break up the carbon, was that too much? Has an automatic transmission. It's the traveler.
 
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The strategy you're suggesting sounds a lot like repair by braille. Just start throwing parts at it until you hit blackjack. That get's expensive and frustrating. I know, cuz I've dun did it. If you're going to own a Scout, one thing you need to get used to is the fact that they're old and most of them haven't been maintained properly. Worse yet, most of them have been subject to creative po work-arounds that just majorly f**k everything up for the next owner. This is most problematic in the electrical system, which was marginal at best when originally designed in the late 60's and never really improved upon much through the end of production. But, they're great vehicles and this is your golden opportunity to git larned up reel guuder on old skule vehikular manetenance. Since it has an auto trans, that introduces a few more possibilities for the non-start issue. First thang I want you to try is shift the trans into n and hit the key. Does she crank over now? Let us know. Do you have access to a digital voltmeter aka dvom? Do you know how to use it? If not, better invest in one. Harbur fake tulz sells 'em dam cheep. We'll 'splane more about that next go round. For now, try my suggestion and report back.
And forget about spun bearings for now. That has nothing to do with your non-start.
 
Thankfully, the Scout was a gift from my grandpa awhile back and has been well taken care of, first time it's ever given me a problem actually. I was right by the window where it was parked and didn't hear anything break, it just shut off as if someone was sitting in it and turned the key, which is also why I ran out there so fast. Got a few scouts in the field for parts too if I need them. Already tried putting it into neutral and starting it but still get the same thing. Was hoping somebody encountered this problem before. What robertc said kind of makes me wonder a little, I hope it's something simple. I'm gonna replace the starter tomorrow and see if my suspicions are confirmed. Keep you posted all. I need to hurry up and get this 69 pontiac lemans before the first big snowfall comes!

-ly
 
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Well, it May very well be the starter...or it might be any combination of the half-dozen other components and/or wiring junctions involved in the starting circuitry. Maybe you fix it by replacing the starter and maybe you wind up with a high-dollar spare part that didn't fix the problem. Take your dvom and set it to dc voltage. Take a reading at the battery. A fully charged battery should be 12.8 volts. If you're much under that, your battery is too low. There's no sense in proceeding any further until the battery is brought to full bear. If that checks out good, next take a reading at the large terminal on the starter-mounted solenoid. That should be very close to the battery reading. A couple decimal points lower is acceptable. If there is a considerable discrepancy, that indicates voltage loss between the battery and the starter due to bad connections or an internally corroded positive cable. Now, if the voltage checks out good at the starter, use an insulated handle screwdriver to jump from the large terminal to the 's' terminal of the starter. Does that engage the starter? Report back.
 
Got it figured out, you guys were right just needed a jump and some gas from all the times I ran the motor without driving it. Runs great now! Just got a foot of snow dumped on it too! Great trucks really.

Thanks for the pointers scoutboy, I'm sure I'll have another question eventually. Thanks for the help all. Least I figured it out before I went replacing parts, got the money back on the starter too!

-joel
 
Right arm dude! The darn things really do just wanna run and run and run. We just gotta make it a little easier for 'em to do it sometimes. Go fetchyer poncho afore there's too much snow to tow 'er home!
 
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