Relays and GP's

[ORCoaster]

Gizmoman.  I think you need to wire up a bunch of LEDs from Red to Green with a bunch of yellows inbetween  Four rows of them on the dash like a total panel, 24 or so.  The red come on at key turn when the glows come on.  Then instal a timer down until finally all the yellows are done and just before the relay clacks back to open the green light comes on signaling all is well and by then the engine is running. 

Can ya work on that?

[Toby]

That's because the Ford starter solenoid is a bad design. I've had one hang also. If you take one of them apart, you will see the solenoid pushes a copper shorting bar onto 2 studs, shorting them out. That bar can hang with the onset of corrosion.

The Ford starter solenoid is a VERY good design and extremely reliable. How often do you hear of a Ford starter solenoid sticking on a Ford. HINT: Never or nearly so. They are not constant duty relays however, and IF you hold it on for 30 minutes they will fail. They do however make constant duty verzions of the same solenoid.

[Gizmoman]

Gizmoman.  I think you need to wire up a bunch of LEDs from Red to Green with a bunch of yellows inbetween  Four rows of them on the dash like a total panel, 24 or so.  The red come on at key turn when the glows come on.  Then instal a timer down until finally all the yellows are done and just before the relay clacks back to open the green light comes on signaling all is well and by then the engine is running. 

Can ya work on that?

That's funny but I think I'll pass. As I recall, it was getting hard to start before it went South. When I took off the head, I found #3 was all busted and crumbled. Had I known (via LED's) , it wouldn't have been a show stopper.
OTOH, the gauges/sensors I am adding will tell me a lot about what's going on when It's running:

1. EGT (very fast)
2. Oil temp
3. Air temp (post WAIC)
4. Coolant temp
5. Oil pressure
6. Boost (changed to digital)

Had I had them when I left on our camping trip, I would have backed off on the throttle a bit while climbing that long grade out of Riverside on a hot summer day. These things are slow and I need to get into a different "groove". Hopefully the mods (WAIC & Giles IP) will give me some peace of mind and a few more horses to boot

[TylerDurden]

Gizmoman.  I think you need to wire up a bunch of LEDs from Red to Green with a bunch of yellows inbetween  Four rows of them on the dash like a total panel, 24 or so.  The red come on at key turn when the glows come on.  Then instal a timer down until finally all the yellows are done and just before the relay clacks back to open the green light comes on signaling all is well and by then the engine is running. 

MOAR!

[flowmastergfunk]

HAHAHAHA I almost just caffienated my nostrils when I saw that picture!!!

Gizmoman! I feel exactly the same about my trip up the grapevine! I shutter when I think about what I must have done to this poor engine when I was forcing it up the hill!!! Oh lord....

I want my car to be like the Mach 5 with all the extra gauges, switches and gadgets!

If I want to be an efficient therapist, I need my car to tell me how it really feels

I do think a truth light would be a simple modification...I just gotta look at a diagram and figure out which wire to snip and extend to the switched side of the HD relay. Gizmo, 4 LED's wouldn't be necessary but if you DID run multiple relays like you were saying, you would need to tap into the switched side of both relays. A single LED wouldn't show you WHICH relay was stuck on, but if either was stuck in the first place, you would need to break out real tools to diagnose it anyways!