Working on getting a '57 F100 running that's been sitting four years. I've gone through a myriad of things to get it prepped before finally trying to start it up, so today all I needed to do was charge the battery.

I had a charger hooked up to the battery for most of the day today. Tried staring the motor, but the starter solenoid clicks and that's it. I suppose the solenoid could be bad, but could the starter possibly be the culprit?

 

In my experience I have always thought that a clicking solenoid was a starter/solenoid problem; however, it has always come down to a corroded connections somewhere in the cables. I would check every connection for corrosion and good continuity before buying any replacement parts. I hope this is your problem, nice and simple!

Good luck!

 

You said it has sat for 4 years and all that was left was to charge the battery, a battery that has sat for that long is junk, put in a fresh battery, clean all cable mounting points and see what happens.

 

Hope you're not trying to charge that battery.

 

Hmmmm, Coos Bay Oregon. The corrosion blows in from across the Pacific and sticks to the electrical connections. Maybe jump across the big terminals on the solenoid after everything is clean and see if it cranks, that's what I'd do. Oh, and replace that old battery with the biggest one that will fit.

 

All connections are clean, no corrosion. The truck hasn't been sitting at the coast the last four years, fortunately.

Yep, needs a battery. It's only putting out 10 volts. In my excitement & haste to get the thing started, it never even crossed my mind. Duh.

 

New battery and she lit right off! Filled the garage with all kinds of nasty smoke, blasted a walnut out one of the tail pipes.....LOL it was quite the sight for a couple minutes.

Now she's purring like a kitten. Here it is:

 

Kevin that is a beautiful/handsome fridge (what ever the gender).
Oh and your garage is way to neat and tiddy, I could stop by and fix that.
Think I'll go straighten up my work bench. LOL

 

I can't even see my workbench

 

thats a sweet truck

 

Nice looking truck. Glad a battery did the trick.

Is this your garage or did you just drop it off in some surgical suite to have the mirrors removed?

 

Thanks guys!

LOL yeah, that's my garage. Clutter gives me a rash!

 

Your truck is a beauty! I'm glad you got her started and i hope you are out cruising right now.

 

Great stance! What's she got underneath?

 

I don't know a whole lot about the truck, but it has a Mustang II front end. For the powertrain, it has a 302 Ford mated to a C4 tranny.