My 76 died suddenly when running fine.

[gearhead8787]

So the other day I was driving down the road in my Travelall at about 65, the gauges looked fine and I had no loss of power when all of the lights went out and the engine shut down. I looked all over for a loose wire or connection, but couldn't find anything. The battery terminals were connected as well. It has a 392, msd ignition, auto 727. Any thoughts???

 

[Scooter]

Did ya check the bulkhead connectors on the firewall in the engine compartment?

I know that in the Scout II's they are notorious for coming loose. I had similar issue in my 72 Scout when I was actually driving it, and it was the firewall bulkhead connector

 

[RobertC]

There is a 12 gauge wire that is part of the pos battery cable.

Have you replaced the pos battery cable and spliced this wire into the existing wire? Check it.

Also, check that the battery is charged.

 

[gearhead8787]

So I looked all over and saw that there was a wire missing on the solenoid. When I spliced a wire on to it I burned it up, which leads me to believe that I had something wrong. It wasn't a main wire coming off the battery, it was toward the tire side of the solenoid. Any thoughts?

 

[Scoutboy74]

First off we need some vehicle clarification. You say '76 Travelall. IH stopped making those in '75. Do you mean Scout traveler?

The description provided is a bit vague. Are you saying that you just touched a loose wire that was not connected to anything else against this one solenoid terminal and the wire instantly burst into flame?
Looking at the front of your solenoid, there are three terminals. One large terminal in the center, one small terminal to the left labelled 'r' and one small terminal to the right labelled 's'. You should see the following items connected to the large center terminal:

1. One 4ga or larger cable running to the battery + terminal.
2. One 16ga wire running up to the #2 terminal of the alternator.
3. One 14ga wire with a fuseable link connected to the bulkhead connector on the firewall.

The 'r' terminal should be vacant, unless the original electronic ignition standard for m/y '76 has been retrofitted to a breaker points ignition. The 's' terminal should have only one wire connected, a 14ga wire which also passes through the bulkhead. This circuit originates at your ignition switch and "tells" the solenoid to engage the starter motor when you turn the keyswitch.

Please trace and verify the existence and condition of the wires as mentioned above and report back.