Question on cranking engine over
 

As of right now I have my altenator and all my electrical dissconnected with the exception of the starter and battery cables.Can I use the battery to turn the engine over without the altenator hooked up?Thanks

i dont see why not, the battery after all is what starts the car. once its running, the alt takes over.

Ok I ask cause I wasnt sure with how funky the electrical systems are on these things if the it will turn the engine over if the altenator is bypassed.Im also at home and my Jimmy is at my garage so i cant just hop in and try it.

Yeah. It should work fine.

Well I went over to my garage and tryed it nothing,No dome light or anything.Yes the battery is fully charged.Do I have a bad ground?

either a bad ground or not a good connection on the positive. but you have to have all the wires that go to the body and internal fuse box hooked up for any of that to work. if you dont have power INSIDE the car, and just power to the starter, then you wont be able to hit the key and crank the motor.
you have to have a dome light turn on in the car to know that you have power to the ignition switch. without power there, nothing will happen when you turn the key. get it to the point that when you turn the key, the dash lights up and all that, then you can get cranking. the car should start with the alternator bypassed, but it wont run for long because your ignition (distributor and coil) will kill the battery.

All this was working till I pulled and replaced the engine,as far as I know all the grounds and other wires neccasary are hooked up.I didnt get a chance to work on anything yesterday to dam cold but I`ll try again today.

Ok I tryed to get the engine to turn over still nothing,No dome light.If my nuetral safety switch is bad will this cause this or do I have problem with my wiring.Im not trying to start it just wanting to turn it over.Help needed please.

Sounds like something is not hooked up somewhere

Nothing on the wiring harness is hooked up I just have positive and ground hooked up and wires to the starter.Guess I`ll have crawl underneith check those connections.

you have to have a dome light, like i stated earlier. if you dont have a dome light then you dont have power to the ignition which in the end means that the ignition cant send the signal to the starter. make sure that you have all the body harnesses hooked up. there should be two of them under the dash, one on the passenger side and one on the driver side. the driver side on i know that you should be able to see from the engine bay on the firewall. there is a 10mm bolt in the middle of them. make sure that is tight. that is how they are connected. if you unscrewed the 10mm when you pulled the motor then you wont have power INSIDE the car. you need to get it to the point where you have the dome light working and also make sure that you have brake lights and dash lights. when you turn the key, all the dummy lights should come on. if they dont, then you wont be able to crank the engine.

Ok Thanks for your reply sir when i get a chance to check things over again I`ll take a looka t what you mentioned.

any luck getting that thing to make a little bit of noise??

Not yet Twip I havent been at the garage lately,Maybe later today.

Ok got a chance to try and figure out this wiring problem this afternoon.Twip I did find the ground strap from the wiring harness and its connected to the firewall peoperly.My ground wire I switched to different location and got some spark out of it so I know that I have juice coming from the battery.I didnt have a chance to check starter wires as I dont have a safe way to jack it it up high enough for me to crawl underneith.I`ll be working on that tomorrow.I also checked the domelight to make sure it works.Right now Im stumped and can barely make heads or tails out of my wiring harness.

Ok got my truck jacked up safely and was able to get underneith and look around.Everything was wet from condensation.I checked the starter wires they are tight.All my ground wires are grounded still nothing.What am I missing?

sorry to sound redundant but if you dont have power INSIDE the car you will never get it started or be able to roll the starter. you have to get to the point that you can listen to the radio and have a dome light and all that kind of stuff. you should be able to turn the wipers on and all that. otherwise your ignition wont do anything.

Ok I think I might have figured it out.I wish I could post pics camera is dead.On my wiring harness there 2 red wires that should be connected to the positive on the battery.Thats how its connected on my truck anyways.Probalem is I cant get them to reach.I have to see if I can get these wires to move forward so I can hook them up.I`ll post an update when i get a chance.

Ok so these 2 redwires that are combined into1 terminal with 12 volts hooked to them and also having a ground will turn my lights and all my dash board stuff on.The starter will not crank so either my nuetral safety switch isnt hooked up good or its bad.I did have to replace it cause my other one broke during the engine and transmission swap.These 2 wires go to the altenator so the circuit from the battery to the altenator and starter all have to be hooked up for the engine to crankover..

There should be 3 wires at the battery positive terminal:
One wire goes to a 14ga grey fusible link, then changes to red and goes to the EBCM.
The second wire goes to a 12ga blue fusible link, then changes to red and connects to the stud on the back of the alternator.
The third wire is a 2ga wire, (originally it was black) and goes directly to the starter solenoid. This is the largest wire on the battery positive terminal.

On the stud on the back of the alternator there should be 3 wires:
The first one is the 12ga blue fusible link, (changes to red) from the battery positive terminal, (described above).
The second wire as a 16ga black fusible link that changes to red and goes to the starter relay.
The third wire is a 12ga blue fusible link that changes to red, and goes to the junction block near the left hood hinge. This wire feeds the junction block.

The junction block supplies battery voltage to everything else on the vehicle. There should be 5 16ga black fusible links. They all change to red, and connect to the studs on the junction block:
2 of them feed the ignition switch.
2 of them feed the instrument panel fuse box.
1 goes to the blower motor relay.

Hope this helps

Im going to see if I can get a pic of these wires out of camera to see if thse go to the battery or altenator.

Ok If you see the 2 red wires into 1 terminal I hooked up 12 volts positive and a 12 volt ground.With the key shut off my lights,security system and dash lights all came on.Now should these be hooked up to the battery or altenator?If its the battery they wont reach.

Those are two of the fusible links that go to the alternator, should be one more around there somewhere.

EDIT: They both appear to be the same gauge wire, if that's right, one of them goes to battery positive and the other goes to the junction block. The third, (smaller gauge) wire, the one that's missing, goes to the starter relay, which I believe is visible on the firewall.

Im almost certain the go to the altenator,That part of the harness will not move any further forward.I tryed.I put the altenator on the bracket and they barely reach the altenator cause the bracket for it is disconnectd from the engine.

Good news
 

Got the engine to crankover
The 2 wrie terminal isnt going to the batery unless I lengthen it.Theres noway now how it will reach.Im assuming it goes with the other wire to the altenator.Anyways with power to it I can go inside with the key and turn the engine over.I was also right about the nuetral safety switch not being plugged in.Im still confused why this wire if its supposed to be on the battery why it wont reach?I tryed steching the harness and it pulled the elctrical connection my fuel injection unit.It 6 inches short of the battery.

The wires in your image go to the rear of the alternator, not the battery. There is one more wire that also attaches to the alternator.

My "edit" was not clear, sorry... the other end of one of those goes to the battery positive. The other end of the other wire goes to the junction block.

Ok that would make sense I had the 2 of them in my hand today. Thanks Capatain.Nice to finaly make some progress.Now theres a small groundwire that comes from coresupport goes to the negative side.Keeps coming apart so Im going soilder it and then wrap with electrical tape.

if it keeps coming apart, replace it. the wire is mot likely corroded pretty bad

Naw its not that,theres a connector one of those kind that you crimp 2 wires together.The yellow crimper just isnt holding the wires.I have to replace that or like soilder them together.

solder and heat shrink, electrical tape sucks.

^^^ Yup, crimp connectors have no place on a vehicle, unless you solder the wires to the terminal and use heat shrink tube to seal out moisture. 60/40 lead tin rosin core solder ONLY.

I have moved away from lead tin solder, I use lead free rosin core, works amazing. which reminds me, I have to pull the tail lights and put some dialect grease on the quick connects I made.

Interesting.... lead tin solder has been around for 60 years and has always worked fine. EPA must have stepped in cuz some tree hugger group was complaining about the lead. Hmm, what about the mercury in the CFL bulbs from China that we have to buy? ;)

Check your ground cable fom the battery. Had the same problem. Make sure it is connected to engine block or frame. Also has to be clean and tight.I found that AFTER changing stater solenoid & positive cabe.

I actualy tryed the flux core first with bad results,I couldnt get it to flow.Luckily I had lead tin solder which worked.