Hi, if there's already a thread on this one, just point me in the right direction and sorry for the inconvenience. If not, could someone please help?

I have a 99 f150 2wd v6 4.2 liter engine. Im going to sum up what happened and what I've done so far. One morning truck wouldnt start. Wouldn't crank, turn over, or even make a click click noise. I tried jumping it just to be sure but it didnt do anything. Battery is fine, interior lamps, displays, and radio all work fine.

I took the starter off, had it tested, it was bad so i got a new one. Still had the same problem. Finally, i got underneath the trunk and bridged the positive and negative on the starter solenoid and it fired right up. So the starter is not the problem.

Next I looked into the starter relay, if I bridged the positive and negative on the starter relay it fires right up just like the starter. But since that is only bypassing the starter relay, it didnt tell me whether the starter relay was good or bad. So I got a new starter relay and it worked! It started with the key with no problem 3 times! I thought the problem was fixed but when i tried to start it an hour later, nothing... Same problem as before.

I checked all my fuses, none were blown.

I'm under the assumption that either something leading to the starter relay is making the starter relay go bad OR there isn't enough power going to the starter relay. Maybe something in the ignition, even though my accessories are all still working.

Any thoughts? I'd appreciate any help I can get. It is the only vehicle I have to and from work. For now I am getting by with bridging positive and negative on the starter relay to start it but that is only a temporary fix.

 

Does the wire attached to the small terminal on the starter relay go HOT when the key is turned to START?

Auto or manual transmission?

 

Yes, i checked the small wire with a volt meter an it read .04v. the meter was set to 20v direct current.

Automatic transmission.

 

Did you check it ONLY IN START?

 

I only checked it when turning the key all the way over, as if starting the vehicle.

 

.04 volts is basically NOTHING... you need power from the key to the relay to pull it in........... you could check by taking a jumper and going from battery terminal to the small relay terminal and it should start.

Neutral start switch bad ?...... gear shift lever "SET" in the park position ? Try wiggling the shift lever and then start.

 

That's it. Thanks Steve. My shift lever has been messing up and it wasn't going all the way into park. Once I wiggled it into place, it fired up great.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

Jeep's have similar problems which we found is the ignition wiring in the steering shaft grounds out.....

I never heard or read Ford having this problem but it wouldn't surprise me...

 

It would surprise me.... I've never head of wiring "grounding out in the steering shaft" and causing a "no crank" problem on a Ford.