Love for my '78 620 but does it have Love for me?

[Lionasaurus]

I bought the pick up about 3 years ago from a man out in the country who said he drove it everyday. Needless to say, through fixing the truck up, I discovered issues that relate to the original owner not driving the truck for years. Either way, I replaced the radiator, starter, coil pack, fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel line, and put a rebuilt carb on there. The battery would turn over and the truck acted like it wanted to start, but no fuel was reaching the fuel pump (hence the reason for the replacement of the fuel line and fuel pump). However, after replacing the line and pump, I went to jump the truck and the battery and surrounding wires started to emit a small amount of smoke. I immediately disconnected everything, replaced the battery, and went back at it. Unfortunately, now, there is no electricity running through any part of the truck. It does not turn over nor do any lights or interior electricity work. I have put my heart and soul into this thing and do not want to let it go, but have come to a dead end and not sure what else to do. Ideas?

[Guest Rick-rat]

Maybe the smoke was from the fusible link on the positive side of the wiring from the battery

[Bradinnes]

Sounds as if you're have wiring issues. I'm by no means an expert, but I would look over your wiring loom for any melted and/or burnt wiring. Something you might want to try first is to by-pass the ignition switch and see if you can turn the truck over at least. If the wires were smoking there's a good chance there is a short some where or even bigger issues. Just my 2 cents but I could be wrong. I have a 510 not a 620 truck. Good luck and don't give up yet. There must be a bunch of guys who can help you sort out this issue on Ratsun. Stay focused and all will fall into place.

[datzenmike]

The fusible link will be a short length of Green wire (probably burnt looking and melted) with plugs on the ends so it can be removed and replaced. It will be connected to the positive battery post or cable by a short length of Black wire.

 

It could also be a poor battery connection to the cables. The starter will draw hundreds of amps and it will heat up and sometimes there is smoke. Sometimes the poor connection just zap's it's self and breaks the connection. I would clean and tighten the battery connections as well as the other ends too. The negative usually is bolted to the head behind the fuel pump and the positive to the starter lug.

 

If the fuel line or filter was plugged the replacement of the carb, coil, fuel pump probably wasn't needed. Stock pumps and coils hardly ever go bad. Bad battery connections could also have been the problem with the starter.