ARRRGGHH!!! Now it won't start again.



Tried tightening up all the contacts, still nothing. Battery should be fine, or so I thought. Could there be a short somewhere?

 

my cousin has an 88 gmc 2500 van with the chevy 5.7 350 in it...he bought it from a guy and we found out its a STARCRAFT which is a conversion van...between the 4 aux lights and the various wired things on it...it was a nightmare.. prroblem was ..it would die within 5 minutes of not running wand having something on...so we spent lotsa money replacing all this ***** and found out it was one disconnected wire...

moral of the story...dont start replacing things untill you check all your wires..

 

first of all nice truck..

on the batterey issue.i have had this happen on almost all my fords..somethimes for some reason or another mine wouldnt start..what i would do is just loosen the battery terminals and slightly move them and tightend them down again and it would start right up...i dont know why 90's fords do this (or atleast mine do) but it is an easy fix..just keep a 1/2 wrench with you in the truck at all times lol..

 

there is a 1 wire s terminal on the starter that is loose or corroded, that is probally your issue

 

regarding the oil pan...they are notorious for pinholes in certain years. I have a 96 f150 myself. It developed some pinholes and leaked BAD. i mean...it went from no leak at all to a pile in the driveway.

What i did was this...i drained all the oil and did an oil change. When it was empty i took a torch and soldered over the pinholes.

It worked great..its been 2 years and not a drop of oil.

cheap and effective!

 

Thanks, all!

The battery was 10 years old, so I figured it was time anyway. I took it to AZ and had them test it, told me it was good but needed a charge, then told me it wasn't holding a charge. Long story short, I bought a new battery.

Even with a new battery, it still won't start though. jk89cat, thanks, I was wondering where to start checking the wiring, that seems like a good place.

I think the battery terminals are fine, I used grease this time, new battery, and tightened up good. Everything else works (headlights, radio, fan), except when I turn the ignition, just one loud click and nothing.

The guy at AZ tried to convince me to drop the oil pan myself, that I wouldn't have to jack up the engine... it's tempting, but I need the truck working next Friday!! Maybe I'll give it a try this weekend, if I get the wiring figured out.

 

Sooooo If you decide to junk that push bar, ill pay shipping if u send it to my adress






Just sayin.

 

LOL DuctTapeRacing. The way things are going, I might just send you the whole truck. If you read this thread back to front, it looks like I'm making progress!

Hard to get a picture, but the starter is rusted pretty bad (like everything else). I see two wires, one is obviously the battery and I assume the other is the s terminal. Nothing looks wrong to me, but I don't know. Could the starter be done too?

I figure I'll look for voltage drop next. Since I have no friends, I'll try to hook up a remote starter switch, so I can check voltage while trying to start it. I'll need a creeper, and I think it would help to jack up the truck. More purchases to make, but I've spent a lot more time under my truck than in it, and I'm tired of getting a wet *** on my driveway!!

 

uhhh..my s10 did the same thing..itd click and not rev..what i did what that was..turn it from the 2nd stop place (where ur lights and radio and ac will cut on) then go between there and ignition till it started (usually took 3 times)

theres also an old trick....lol..get a hammer and tap ur starter..NOT HARD THOUGH!!!

 

Tried turning several times from run position, still no luck.

I figure next I'll whack it a few times, and if that doesn't work, I'll test the voltage at the starter with everything off, assuming I can find the battery lead and the ground terminal.

If that doesn't work, I figure I'll disconnect the battery and remove the starter to "bench" test it.

 

Light whacks with a hammer didn't help, so I checked voltage from the battery lead to ground, with key in off position.

starter = 11.85 V
battery = 12.56 V
drop = 0.71 V

I think this implies there's too much resistance somewhere, right?

BTW, I couldn't really see the s terminal too well, but I could stick a camera up in there.

 

yikes..clean the hell outta that thing!! lol..that may help? i dunno much about starters on these particular trucks...i havent had mine long enough to find all the niks and dings.

 

I bought a 3.5 ton floor jack (overkill?) and even chocks, but only have 2 ton jack stands.

I'm about to remove the starter... just jacked up the truck for the first time, hope I'm okay... here's some pics in case I'm doing something dumb.

 

FAIL. The bolts are hard to reach, rusted through, and stubborn as hell. How unusual!

Weird thing is, I don't seem to have a wrench that exactly fits -- 12mm is too small, 13mm too large, 7/16 too small, 1/2 too large. Not sure I'll be able to get em off.

I hate to say it, but I'm about to give up. Not on the truck, just on fixing it myself.

If I can't get a bolt off tomorrow, I'll probably have it towed to the shop Monday or Tuesday. I need to drive long distance by next Friday, so it's getting really tight.

 

Truck is at shop now, had it towed this AM. Tow truck driver tried the trick where you short the starter relay with a screwdriver. He said the starter motor was shot.

Lucky thing is, the price I was quoted for the oil pan a while back included removing the starter, so no extra labor for putting in a new one. Well, unless he gives me a hard time about rounding the bolts.

BTW, while working on the starter, I noticed the gasket was leaking, not the pan. The JB Weld held up fine. Couldn't really see that until I jacked up the truck.