The Ford Barn

nkaminar · 01-09-2026, 03:13 PM

Use your multimeter on the DC volt setting to find the cause. Start at the battery and then move out to the starter switch on one end and the ground on the engine at the other end. New batteries can be bad. Try charging it with your battery maintainer.

JayJay · 01-09-2026, 09:46 PM

To supplement what nk suggests, I'd really concentrate on the ground side. Horn and lights operate through two separate ground paths. Hot to the horn goes through the steering column, the horn button and eventually through the light switch to ground on the frame. The lights go through the light switch to the lights, then are grounded through the connection to the light bar and from there to the frame. The fact that you are having trouble with both suggests a bad connection between the ground side of the battery and the frame.

How does your brake light work? Again, hot to the switch (which is open when the brake pedal is at rest), then through the bulb to the frame.

01-09-2026, 03:13 PM	#1
nkaminar Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Western North Carolina Posts: 6,856	Re: No P0wer from Battery Use your multimeter on the DC volt setting to find the cause. Start at the battery and then move out to the starter switch on one end and the ground on the engine at the other end. New batteries can be bad. Try charging it with your battery maintainer. __________________ A is for apple, green as the sky. Step on the gas, for tomorrow I die. Forget the brakes, they really don't work. The clutch always sticks, and starts with a jerk. My car grows red hair, and flies through the air. Driving's a blast, a blast from the past.

01-09-2026, 09:46 PM	#2
JayJay Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 2,677	Re: No P0wer from Battery To supplement what nk suggests, I'd really concentrate on the ground side. Horn and lights operate through two separate ground paths. Hot to the horn goes through the steering column, the horn button and eventually through the light switch to ground on the frame. The lights go through the light switch to the lights, then are grounded through the connection to the light bar and from there to the frame. The fact that you are having trouble with both suggests a bad connection between the ground side of the battery and the frame. How does your brake light work? Again, hot to the switch (which is open when the brake pedal is at rest), then through the bulb to the frame. __________________ JayJay San Francisco Bay Area ------------------------ 1930 Murray Town Sedan (under reconstruction) 1931 Briggs S/W Town Sedan It isn't a defect, it's a feature!

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