Sam I Am,
Here are pics, including a 'fuse link' to the battery cable which I don't know what it is, and a pic of the starter, less than stellar looking. I went to autozone and had the battery load tested and it was good.







Steve,
I'm in over my head with the jumper no you suggest, but I'll ask for pointers when I get there.

Thanks guys!

 

Update
I had someone help me trace the power and found that there's no power going from the switch to the starter solenoid when turning the key to START. Looks like it may be a problem with the switch, a fuse or relay, or the starter solenoid itself. The fusible link at the battery was good.

When the problem first started happening, there was a rapid ticking when trying to start, a few hours later of messing with it, there would only be a single click, and now there's no clicking at all when turning the key. Not sure if that behavior points to something specific beginning to fail and finally just giving out...

 

By switch, do you mean the ignition switch?


And by starter solenoid, do you mean the starter relay on the firewall?


Or if you mean the starter solenoid down on the starter, which terminal down there are you checking for power when the ignition key is in the crank position?


Disconnect that small tan wire from the starter relay up on the fire wall.
Have someone hold the ignition switch in the crank position and tell us how many volts your volt meter reads on that tan wire while the ignition switch is in the crank position.


BTW, what are we working on? With which transmission?

 

Sorry for the novice terminology.
Thanks

 

Not supposed to be any in RUN, only in START (the small trigger wire, that is).

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I meant to say when I turn the key to Start (not to Run), and have edited my post.

 

So what did your volt meter read?

 

The problem was the starter relay. Relay was replaced and the truck starts right up.

Thanks to all who have contributed and helped!

 

Ford electrical 101