Have you tried another brand of solenoid? This has been a common problem lately, and most people buy another brand and it goes away.

 

This truck does not have two solenoids. battery cable runs directly from bat post to solenoid on fender. then to starter. it is the older style starter. I have tried two different brand solenoids. but I am going to pickup a ford solenoid.and load test all the cables. I'll let you know.

 

well I took the old solenoid apart that was stuck. I found the bridging terminal was welded to the contacts i had to pop lose with a screwdriver. this indicated to me that circuit is not making good contact. So i load tested the battery and cables and the battery was under 12votls and wouldnt even pull 200 amps. It is a 900cca battery. what is odd is that it would crank the engine over fine even keep cranking when solenoid stuck. but I asume the low voltage was not giving the solenoid a good supply while cranking and casuing a weak pressure contact on the terminal bridge. acting like a spark plug instead of solid connection. then would weld the contacts. I installed new battery and clean all conections. also installed new solenoid. What do you know It works perfectly.

 

my 99 ford f350 is doing the same thing,starter sticking.It stopped sticking for about 2 months,then started doing it again.2 months ago I replaced the relay,new cables,and small wire to starter because I broke it,and today a new starter. started it up and it stuck for about 2 seconds. tried to get it to do it again and it wont,(stick). How much does the shim need to be? My old good starter showed no wear on the bendix.

 

Do the late model Ford starters use a shim? I didn't know that, are you sure?

 

Hey Guys-- Yes, Old Thread indeed, but many people are having the same problem. I am one of them. My 1984 F150 (302,2bl) is doing the same exact thing.

I replaced:

2 solenoids, 1 ignition switch

Still doing it---

Any thoughts here? It's got to be between the solenoid and the ignition switch. Are the Autozone solenoids really that bad?

Thanks for any help!

Bill

 

Yikes!! That's scary. And not just scary, scarey... Hannibal Lecter get's inside your head, scary. I know, it was posted a while ago, but nobody seemed to offer some type of exorcism for this thread.So here's what to do, to try and put this thing back on planet earth. lol.

First of all, the biggest thing that seems to bug me is the original post. This can't be true. If it were true, the vehicle would be fine, I, mean this guy really covered all the bases. We must assume that one of the facts given is only thought to be a fact, or the wires were not installed correctly. Any way, here's how (in case anybody ever runs into this again) to sort this thing out. Cool thing is: this process works on most all fords with a solenoid relay. And when you attack the problem using this "replacement for process of elimination" it seems to dawn on you as you're performing the tests what the real problem is.

There are 2 circuits here. A high amp (big cables), and a low amp (small wires). Process of elimination (just like always) to determine which one is the culprit. Make up a couple 12 guage wires with some alligator clips on each end to test the low amp circuit. Let's say a black one and a red one for illustrative purposes.

1. I think I'd get the hi amp circuit working first : Take all the wires and cables off the solenoid. Note with dig. camera or pen & paper where they went, and also noting that 1 or more wires may have been previously mis-installed. Put the cable going to the starter back on the relay first, then the cable going to the battery. With a heavy duty set of cables or even 2 old screwdrivers, jump from big post to big post. Note that there's going to be some arc the last place you make contact, so if you use HD jumper cables, touch the nuts outside, not the copper threads on the studs.

If you use 2 screwdrivers, place the tips on each copper stud first, then touch the shafts together to activate the starter. Do this for 10-20 times for 3-10 seconds each time, to make sure nothing sticks or acts stupid. OK ? then the high amp is done. Not OK? then you have a bad ground, weak cable, battery weak, or sticky starter. Most cases, you'll be ready for the next step, knowing that everything in the hi amp circuit including the battery is OK. If you fear running out of juice at the battery, hook up a jump box or a charger set to a medium charge. This will also help you bust a low battery if it sticks when you don't have boosters hooked up.

Remember that a low battery does't necessarily mean the battery is is junk, it might not be charging properly, or have parasites.

2. Now the low amp circuit. Some solenoids are internally grounded at one of the terminals, and some are externally grounded to pull in the contacts. The part store could have given the wrong solenoid. Run the red jumper wire from B+ and touch one terminal at a time. Starter work? Do this 20-30 times for 3-5 seconds each. Starter don't work? Run the black #12 test lead to B-, and to one of the terminals. Then use the red test lead to activate the starter. Do this 20-30 times to be thorough. Rarely, but a ford pmgr starter can generate current within itself and need a bleed off diode parallel to the s terminal. We can move on knowing that the sol.relay is also good.

Now re-install the remainder of the wiring one step at a time following this procedure:
a. Install all wires on large posts.
b. Test system with black and red wires. If sticking occurs, remove one wire or group of wires at a time to determine which one causes the sticking. Trace these wires or consider a diagram as they may be installed on the wrong copper post.
c. If it's all good so far , put the small wires on and test. Sticking at this point would be bad ignition switch or nuetral safety. Use test light to find wire from ignition, then pull that wire off and make the system work with the red test lead going to B+ before you replace ignition switch.
d. Place your order for some falva beans and a nice chiante.

 

I carry an extra solenoid in ALL my trucks. The NEW ones you buy nowadays(doesn't matter where) are all hit and miss.

 

ive gone thru a bunch of solenoids, when they start sticking i have toi get out and smack em.. changed starter ans same prob.. Im at a loss as to what it could be alt is new also

 

Go to the junkyard and get one. See if you can get a older one that is not made in China. I am not kidding.

 

I was trying to figure out how someone could get 4 bad solenoids in a row.

I found a white paper on relay design, here's the most interesting part:



Basically to protect the computers in fuel injected vehicles, a suppression diode was added across the relay coil. This is effective, but has the side effect of keeping the coil energized longer after the starter switch (key) is released, and making the starter relays switch contacts more slowly. This in turn allows them to arc more as they open, and intermittently spot weld together.

The solution is to get an old style relay that isn't diode suppressed, and risk inductive spikes from the coil messing with, or maybe (unlikely) killing your computer. Or you can add your own suppression zener+diode combo "transient suppressor" across the coil for the most skookum solution.

Cheers!

 

Good info in the previous post.

 

I am working on an F150 with a sticking relay...

I think that I may have just found out what might be the problem. Throttle Position Sensor is actually bad....this plays with all kinds of idle/timing on the truck and when the truck kicks bad due to timing .... it overloads the relay and causes it to weld together.
I get the new TPI in a day or so and will see after a while.

Any thoughts?

 

Try it, but I think the computer has a "crank" mode and the tps won't have much affect on the timing. What it can do is fool the computer into thinking the throttle is wide open. During cranking this puts the computer in the "clear flooded engine" mode and can cause it not to start. It turns the injectors off when the engine is cranking and the throttle is wide open.

 

So that's why when the truck died at a Stop Sign it wouldn't start and had to be towed away!

Thought about putting a push button on the dash for the relay??