First, my sincere thanks to all of you who sent me suggestions! It was
comforting to see so much general consensus.
Given that my charging system had so recently been overhauled (when I
put in the new motor 2K miles ago), I decided not to start by checking
there first. Given that I don't want to mess with the current Z-S carbs
because I'll be replacing them realsoonnow, I logically concluded that
the problem couldn't possibly be there.
I'm a direct kind of guy, so I looked at the components that were
exhibiting the symptoms---the solenoid and fuel pump. A spade
connection had fallen off the solenoid, but gravity and the geometry of
the wiring harness were keeping them more or less in contact. I
reestablished the connection and engaged the starter. The clicking
noise was gone. One problem solved.
Next I looked at the fuel pump. The pump and all its connections looked
fine, but it was certainly not working at all. So I turned on the
ignition and checked voltage. Zero. I followed the hot wire uphill to
the cutoff switch I'd installed underneath the dash. Bingo! The lead
to the fuse box had fallen loose at the switch. I fastened the wire
again, turned on the ignition, and the pump ran fine.
Thanks again to all of you for your support! I had set aside a bottle
of Guinness as a prize to the puzzle winner. I'm sorry to say that,
although most of you had theories that generally accounted for the actual
problem, no one specifically mentioned the two loose wires, so we have
no winner. Much as I'd like to share the prize with all of you, you are
all so far away, and the bottle is so close to me...
T.J., hope your day on the golf course went as well as mine in the
parking lot!
R. Kevin Riggs Manager of Applications Documentation
________________________________________________________________________
Intergraph Corporation TEL: (205) 730-3074
Mailstop: GD3000 FAX: (205) 730-3453
Huntsville, AL 35894-0001 rkriggs@riggs.b30.ingr.com
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