dealing with a no-start situation on my 1994 f250 351w c6 .

turn key, hear a clicking from either the fender mounted relay or the starter solenoid; engine not turning over.

have lights and accessories.

jumped the 2 large relay terminals with a screwdriver ... got what i thought was a pretty weak spark jumping off them and still no cranking.

was not at home so i didnt have my voltmeter with me, not that it would have mattered, since with lights operating it is probably going to show somewhere near 12 volts. ... are we looking at the possibility of a battery ( around 6 years old) that just doesnt have the juice to turn the engine ?

if a jump start and/or a better battery doesnt do it, what is my next move ?

p.s. : replaced the brushes on my starter just a few weeks ago (they CLEARLY needed replacing) but the rest of the starter was not overhauled.

 

When you did the brushes, did you check out the commutator? It sounds like it has a dead segment.

The fact that your lights didn't dim tells me that the starter motor itself ain't drawing current. The power solenoid (on the fender) and the starter drive solenoid (on the starter) sound like they are working. Either you have a bad connection somewhere, or it's what I said above.

 

I 'm having the same problem. I jump the solenoid on the fender and the solenoid on the starter. Same thing clicks, starter doesn't energize. I can jump the starter itself and it will energize and spin. I've checked all the connections and they appear fine.
Is it possible for the clutch switch being part of the problem? There are a lot of wires running to it.

 

not sure if you all can but i always check for voltage at the starter and i have had to ground my fender mounted solenoid especially the after market ones good luck

 

If you jump the solenoid on the starter and the solenoid clicks then the large cable running from the battery to the starter is either bad or has a bad connection at one end.
You do have the ground cable running from the NEG post of the battery to the engine block and not just the frame. The frame does not have to be grounded but the engine block does.
Sounds like the starter relay on the fender is OK.

 

resolved ...

thanks, dixie , for pointing me in the right direction.

with 12 volts showing down at the starter, the cables looking good, and a jump start not doing the trick, i decided that the battery was fine and the problem had to be in the starter itself. bought a new starter and put it in ...problem solved.

moral of the story : dont be such a cheap *****. if the brushes are gone, the rest of the starter is probably not far behind (in this case, i got all of 3 weeks out of my 'repair'). starters are easy to do on this truck, but i would really rather have just done it right, and done it once.