First off hello to all and sorry for the long post as I just signed up and I wanted to be as thorough as possible in my first post.

I have an 03 F550, crew-cab dually, 4WD, V8 Powerstroke Diesel, with a U-Haul box-truck conversion. I know, lots of bells and whistles.

Anyway, the reason I mention the box is because the light-bar on the front of the box fell off, causing all the lights from the front of the box to the tail lights on the trailer to be non-functional. I had a suggested "mechanic" repair the lights due to lack of time. I also had him do the DOT inspection while it was there.

The truck started fine when I picked it up (I was at his shop a couple of days before and it was on a battery charger). I brought it home and parked it. A couple of days later, I turned the key to the "ready" position, everything is working normally at this point (WTS light, chiming, dash lights coming then off). I tried to crank it, nothing, not even clicking.

But none of the dash lights dim and no CEL. So I think, okay the batteries are low. I slap on the jumper cables and let it sit a few minutes, turn the key, it cranks but does not start. The block warmer is plugged in and it is not extremely cold ( but under 35f). So I try this a couple of more times, it cranks but to no avail. Then I turn the key one more time and nothing again. Back to the beginning.

???

Now sometimes it cranks and sometimes it doesn't. I've been to this site for help in the past and recently and have found many possible reasons it's doing this, but none really specific to my case. Just looking for more info.

I have been around a few big diesels in the past and know about cycling the ignition and stuff like that, even some engine mechanical, but I could use a little help. I am a mechanic, but not very experienced with diesel ins-and-outs.

If anyone can help, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and have a great day,

crcurley

 

sorry, 7.3L Now the odometer goes out when cranked and the ABS light goes off then back on.