LUVTruck.com

Hey Fellow Luv Truckers,
I have an interesting problem. My truck only stays running if I have a wire, with alligator clips on each end, connecting the positive terminal on the battery to the positive terminal on the coil. As soon as I remove the wire from either terminal the engine kills itself. I know there is fuel, so the problem is not the pump or the filter. Starting down the line, I was using the battery out of my 95 Honda Accord; hooked with jumper cables, to the battery out of my 68 VWBug, which was hooked up to a battery charger plugged into the wall. If I leave the battery by itself, after the engine cranks less than five times, there is not enough juice to crank the engine over again; all I hear is silence. The fasten seat belt buzzer won't sound, or any dash lights illuminate.
So then the parts thart are new are: starter, alternator, distributor cap, rotor, condenser, Accel High Vibration Super Stock Coil, Accel Coil Resistor, Ignition wires (I used the Haynes Manual to make sure of firing order so all wires are connected to where they are suppossed to be), Spark Plugs (checked gap before installing), 20-50W High Mileage Motor Oil, Oil Filter, and Air Filter. I figure if I leave the jumper wire connected to the coil I'll burn it up. Is this true? This is the third coil resistor I've bought for the truck, if that tells you anything.
Little history of the truck; someone donated the truck to a charity. My Mom's boyfriend bought the truck off the charity from his friend that works there, whom said the donator was the original owner. He drove it on a daily basis from Napa, CA to Fremont, CA for less than six months. The drive is about 70 miles each way, give or take a few miles for errands or lunches. He did almost no maintenance save for installing the alternator to get it to drive, and a fresh oil change. He drove it like that till he blew the transmission. During this time a cop he knew broke into the truck, and ripped apart the dash to take out the stereo, slashing the tires as he left, in his uniform and driving his cruiser no less. My moms boyfriend was at a resteraunt that happened to have cameras recording its parking lot, so he pressed charges, and the guy lost his job. The insurance he had on the truck gave him cash for the damages, so he kept the money and gave the truck to me. He bought used tires to drive it before the tranny finally blew. We sourced a tranny through one of his friends, that happened to have a friend with a yard, that had a LUV whose only salvagable part was the tranny. It happened to be a 1980 4x4 like mine with only 40,000 miles on it. It was the only LUV the Yard Owner had in over ten years. The parts LUV got crushed after I got the tranny, sorry everyone. I got a screaming deal only paying $120.00 for the tranny, smogged the truck for $50.00, and payed $25.00 to get the title in my name. I drove it for three months, then it stopped starting. After I turned it off, the battery would die if I let it sit for more than a day. If I drove it every single day it would start no problem, but after a weekend of rest, if the charger wasn't plugged in 5-8 hrs before I needed it, the truck wouldn't start. I was driving my 68 VW Bug also at the time, so I non-op'ed the truck vowing to fix it some day.
Now I am trying to build it up so my Girlfriend's Sister can use it. She spent her life travelling to third world countries through different missionary programs at her church, a nondenominational Christian one. She taught swimming, lifesaving skills, and english. She was doing her part educating the poorest of people how to make a better life for themselves. This kind of work is noble of course, but doesn't pay anything. That's where I can help her out, since she's been giving seflessly to others. Right now she is using her pastors car, he loaned her till my LUV is running. I don't feel right giving her a vehicle that will break for me, a mechanic by hobby; cause she won't know how to do anything with it, except start it and keep it clean.
The rest of the regular maintanence is almost at a hundred percent. So any minute she can get insurance and start driving this thing. It will help me clear out my driveway of two vehicles (I get to store my 68 VW Bug at her house as payment for her using the truck, plus if it breaks she can drive the Bug as a back-up). So what could I look at so this wire doesn't need to stay hooked up on both the positive terminals? My Dad and I are at wits end with my mini-monster-truck-beast (that's the name my friends gave it), but my brother said maybe there is a ground to the distributor I might be missing. Any help is appreciated of course. Thanks in advance.

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1980 Chevrolet Luv Truck 4WD
1995 Honda Accord VTEC Coupe
1959 VW Double Cab Pick-Up
1968 VW Deluxe Microbus w/camper interior
1968 VW Beetle 4dragracing w/fiberglass flip-frontend

My 77 runs more reliably now than in 1980. It always used to die once in a while. It was worse in the winter. Wasted a bunch of money on fuel antifreeze.

Finally, 5-10 years ago, I found and fixed the problem. The fuse holder is riveted together. It corroded and sometimes power didn't make it through. I took it apart and soldered all the joints together*. End of problems.

Try a different ignition fuse. I once drove 150 miles to rescue my daughter from a dead truck. The fuse looked good. She made it home on a jumper wire. The ohmmeter said the fuse was bad, and a new one fixed it.

One other problem I had was the brushes sticking in the alternator. That would kill the battery and the engine. A rebuilt alternator fixed that.

*Since then I have heard you need to do the same to Honda main relays.

Hey LUV Truckers,
Previously I forgot to mention that my ignition switch is new too. I double checked the battery by charging it and checking if it will hold the charge. Its been sitting disconnected on a shelf in my garage for over a week, and it hasn't dropped.
I'm taking the suggestion to take the fuse box apart and soldering all the joints together after soaking the terminals in lime juice. First problem, I tried pinching the first terminal and pushing it through the plastic base. It came out easy, and I thought great till I noticed it only came out because I broke half of the part that grips the fuse. I tried to pull out some of the other terminals more gingerly and they wont budge. I don't want to brake anymore, so what happens to the plastic if I soak the base and terminals together in lime juice? Will the concentrated juice lead to cracking, or premature failure of the plastic?
Second, I have an ohmmeter, what should I be looking for when checking the fuse? I'll try to test all the ones I have, so I know all I keep are still good. At some point I'll try to upgrade to the trooper fuse box.
Third, while looking around in the engine bay I found two loose wires. I've included pictures because I'm hoping they're stock. Then maybe one of you will recognize them, helping me find where they should be connected. Maybe this could be another reason why I'm having trouble with the engine staying started. The weird thing is these were already disconnected before, when the engine ran and started fine for a year almost. I'm including two pictures. The first one focusing on the wire coloring and terminals, to see if any of you recognize where they are suppossed to be connected to. The second is trying to show the length of the green one, the yellow one is about three times as long. I tried stretching them and seeing what was near where they reached, but that didn't seem to help much. Both wires come out of the loom by the Battery platform, if that helps.
Any answers or encouragement is appreciated from the group. Thanks for taking time to read this.

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1980 Chevrolet Luv Truck 4WD
1995 Honda Accord VTEC Coupe
1959 VW Double Cab Pick-Up
1968 VW Deluxe Microbus w/camper interior
1968 VW Beetle 4dragracing w/fiberglass flip-frontend

Things that won't dissolve plastic sometimes will crack it. The lime juice may have harmed it.

I think the green wire if for the A/C. My truck used to have one, and I removed it.

The yellow wire goes to the temperature sender unit under the intake manifold ( about underneath the egr valve control unit in the picture). This is for your temperature gauge. The green one may be for the air conditioning compressor clutch that you do not have.

+1 on the yelow wire. You may need a mirror to spot where it goes. Look for sort of a mushroom shaped terminal on the underside. The slot in the plug goes around the stem, just like the much easier to find oil sensor.