58 Fairlane Skyliner Starting problem
 

I'm going to start off by saying that this is my first post in Motors, so if I leave something out, tell me and I'll go get the info.

It's a 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner retractable hardtop.
352 interceptor engine.
V8 4 bbl
Automatic transmission.
Umm.. it's been sitting in our garage for about 6-7 years collecting dust, and possibly allowing rats to chew on wires, which is where the problem starts.
My friend and I decided it would be a good project to try and get this thing running again since it's quite a beast of a car. We cleaned out the air filter, bought fresh oil, changed the oil and oil filter, added some fresh gas, changed all the spark plugs, put some MMO in there and everything that should be required to get it back to running condition.
Then, we turned to the battery. After attaching the charger to it, it would start charging at 2 or 10 amps fine, but then it would switch over to 50 all by itself, and then switch back to the original power. It did this with each charger we tried.
Then, we unattached the battery from the car and tried charging it. This worked fine and the battery held a charge. But then, upon attaching the battery to the car once again, you could hear the battery boiling within as soon as both connecters touched the battery. And to boot, if you tried to attach a charger to it, it would cause lots of sparking even when done correctly.

So now, I turn to you. Could it be something in the electrical system that the rats chewed through which causes a short of some kind? We know the engine's not dead because once we actually got the engine to turn a bit, but now when you turn the key, nothing happens.
Any ideas would be helpful, and sorry if I rambled a lot.

-Clark

Almost wonder if the starter/solenoid is messed up enough that it's shorting itself out, and screwing up the battery. I realize that's a long shot, but it's about the only thing that I can come up with that would do what you're describing that quickly.

try popping in a battery from another car and see if you get the same problem. Did you check the water level in the battery? Also, what is the battery voltage? Could be you have a shorted cell in the battery that could be causing some problems. Also, if its gassing excessively, dont attach anything to it that will cause sparks if you can avoid it. It my understanding that can easily lead to an exploding battery.
If i were you, id look into a good (used if need be) DVOM. Start measuring voltages and continuity across the main cables, your grounds, etc. and trace out the problem if a different battery doesn't change anything.

Check the condition of your battery cables....at least it being a ford the solenoid would be an easy fix if its the problem..

Also this vintage of Ford [1] has an especially craptastic mechanical voltage regulator that could be shorted.


[1] If equipped with an alternator, I can't remember when Ford made them standard. My '62 had an alternator and my dad's '46 had a generator.

You need a new battery- these cars will go through them every 2-3 years.

Now that we've pretty well diagnosed the problem as being something wrong with the starter solenoid, where can I find one for a car that old? And will it be expensive?

Any auto parts store will have your solenoid. Ford only made two types of firewall/fender mounted solenoids and they used them on alot of cars. Shouldn't cost you more than $15-$20

Well that just might be the best news I've heard all day, I'm off to Autozone!