I've been having this occasional starting issue with my truck. I turn the key and the engine acts like it's going to fire up, so I let go of the key and it doesn't start. Then I try to restart it and either it cranks and fires a few times before it starts, or it fires right up and the starter grinds because I couldn't let go of the key fast enough.

I've had this problem a few times before, but lately it seems to be happening more often. It works normally 98% of the time. Maybe I'm just not letting the engine crank long enough to get it to run before letting go of the key.

Also, the spark plugs were just changed 10k miles ago and when the truck is running it runs great.

 

Well assuming you are asking here because you have already checked out the battery and starter and both came up as being fine.

How bout the alternator has that been checked out and is it in good working condition?

Have you cleaned the throttle body recently and changed out the fuel filter to make sure it isn't clogged?

About the plugs did you go with Motorcraft plugs?

 

the alternator is working fine and I changed the fuel filter and had the TB cleaned when I did the plugs 10k ago. I also did use MC plugs. The battery is the only thing I haven't checked, it's the original one so it's probably about due for replacement.

 

Looks like you have an 05 or earlier based on your picture so yeah I would think that's going to be the next best place to look. Check that out and let us know.

 

Have you checked your coil packs on top of the plugs they are known to go out I know they are expensive but you have covered almost everything else so I would check them.

 

The problem may be your battery, or the connections to or from it. If the engine is turning over just slightly slow it may have trouble with starting, but it will seem to almost start. But your doing good though as far as checking regular maintanence items such as fuel filters and spark plugs. Its not a bad idea at all to check your air filter. Let us know what you find out. When you do hold your key too long then your starter drive- overrunning clutch assembly takes over. This should be fine to do every now and then, but not all the time or everytime. They will last a while. So dont feel bad if you do accidentaly do hold the key too long. Good luck!

 

I'm going to run and get a new battery tommorrow morning. The truck is a '05, so the battery is probably due for a replacement. My mechanic also thinks the battery is also the issue, and he has never steered me wrong either.

 

Sounds good! If its your everyday vehicle you need to rely on 5 years is a good time to replace batterys by. After that they may start getting week. But i have seen motorcraft last a long while.

 

I put in a new battery today and ran a bunch of errands afterwards, the truck starts alot better now. I ended up putting in another Motorcraft battery, but this time I went with a 850cca one instead of the 650 the factory put in. I only put around 8-9k/year on my truck so it sits quite a bit. Sometimes it's not uncommon for it to sit for a week and a half, which is probably worse than using it all the time.

 

Sounds good. At this point it would not be bad at all to do or have done a voltage drop test on your starting circuit. This one takes about 3 minutes and can show you a bad ground, or bad connections to the starter that rob amperage and can cause a starter to turn over slowly. All you need to do this test is a voltage/ multimeter tool

 

thanks for the info. If I start having problems again that'll be the first thing I do. Right now the starter turns over alot faster than it did with the old battery, so I think the battery was the main root of the problem.

 

Alright, well very good! I was wondering how much your motocraft battery cost as well. Those are a very well made battery but i have never had a chance to price them out

 

I bought mine from my local repair shop which is a small shop and it cost me $128 including tax. I really didn't price around because by the time I drove to another place the money I might have saved would've been burned up in gas. Plus this shop has always treated me really well and I don't have a problem paying a little more to patronize him. He also had AC Delco batteries that were $11 cheaper and he said he's had good luck with them, but I wanted the MC.

 

I hear you there! No reason to drive around and shop when other batteries may have been sitting on the shelves for quite a while. Batteries is one of those "you get what you pay for" items. You can go cheap and get a battery that last 2 or three years then a cell goes bad, or you can pay higher dollars for a motorcraft and i have seen motorcraft batteries last between 7 and ten years with out cracked cases, bad/ weak cells, all kinds of things. Glad you went quality! Always good to pay a little extra for a place that treats you right. Im more than ever tired of people running to walmart for everything.

 

I agree, I always see people saying why should I buy brand x when brand A or B is cheaper, I believe you get what you pay for. I'm all for saving money, but on somethings cheaper isn't always better.

The battery I took out was 6yrs old and probably would've gone longer if I wanted to live with the occasional starting problems. The last MC battery I had went 5yrs and started getting slow to crank in the winter, so I took it out and replaced it and my dad put the old MC battery in his farm truck and run it a couple of more years.