Hello. First time posting a question. Have gotten many good answers from this forum in the past so I decided to jion to as a question. I have a 66 F-250 that has a 390 in it. When I tried to start it today, it made a little effort but didn't turn over. the second try resulted in one loud click. It has been on the battery tender for 2 days. Any thoughts as to where I can start?
Thanks

 

Welcome aboard; There's only two things needed to crank it; fuel & Spark; however sounds like you don't have enough crank to push / turn over the motor; once you get it successfully crank over; then the spark & fuel part kick in.
Try jumping it off from a another car or truck, since you mention the battery been on a charge for a few day's. This should turn the motor over a few.

 

Check the cables, sometimes you can get corrosion inside the insulation that is pretty well hidden.

Check the connections. Where the connector crimps to the wire can be a stress point resulting in broken strands in the wire.

Check the battery, may have a "full charge" but be weak anyway.

Have you changed timing recently? IIRC, timing too far advanced will make a hard starter.

 

Thank you both. I will be checking the battery first, then moving on to cables. I just recently got the truck so the timing has never been checked by me. I will give that a check also. Hope I used the right reply key.
Thanks again. This forum is incredible!

 

Welcome to the forum, there are many knowledgeable people here. I would check everything that has been stated, as all are good answers.
I also have a 3 part voltmeter test that may help you narrow it down too. Although, I would suggest that you make sure that the battery is fully charged, and all connections are good first.







Good luck, and let me know if this helps.

 

If it made a "click" or "pop" noise it might be your starter solenoid (should be mounted on the passenger side fender apron). It may have broken ($15 to replace) or the connections on the solenoid or the battery terminals are corroded and not making contact.

Try bumping the solenoid a few times with a mallet then attempt to crank it. If that fails, turn your ignition on and use a screwdriver to bridge the positive contact (from the positive battery cable-end to the starter post on the solenoid. It should crank if your battery is holding juice. If not, you could have a bad starter or a bad ground.

 

Thanks Grubbworm and crazyeddie. I will get on this tonight. I will let you all know what the result is. Can't wait to get the truck back running.

Thanks again to all!

 

Might be hard to do some of those 3 point voltmeter test procedures if you can't start the engine to run it at 2000 rpm.

I'm with crazyeddie in suspecting your starter solenoid if the battery is good & has a decent charge. They do tend to go bad, but aren't expensive or difficult to replace. I like to have a spare on hand anyway just to verify in circumstances like this. If it's not your battery, wiring, connections, or solenoid, you might be looking at a failing starter. That's the last thing you want to check. Do that buy using a jumper directly to the battery. If you narrow it down to the starter, pull it & take it in to the parts store before just buying a new one. A lot of them will test it for you for free & save you the hassle & expense of putting a new one in just to have the same problem. Good luck & let us know how it goes.

 

So, I took tested the battery and the solenoid and both tested fine. I did not have a chance to test the starter. The truck has been siting for several weeks. Is there a possibility that the engine is siezed? The starter seems to engage pretty hard. The click is very loud.
Thanks all.

 

I don't think the ''engine'' is siezed'' it would take several years'' not a few weeks!
but you could try putting a wrench on the crank and turn it by hand to see if it's
froze up, It sounds like the starter is locked up!! try tapping it with a hammer, then try
and crank it!..if that don't work remove the starter and bench test it?
you might need a ''new starter!!

 

Here's a few starter tests that might help.





Good luck.

 

Ditto. Wrap on the starter a few times with a ball-peen hammer and try cranking it. My starter requires this treatment once in a while and it's a year old.

You can check your oil and see if there's any moisture in the crankcase and try cranking it with a ratchet (3/4" socket?) - with everyone else, highly doubt she's froze up unless you ran the ***** off it with no oil before you shut it down.

 

Hey all. Sorry this took me so long to reply. I got the truck running. Turns out it was a loose wire from the solenoid to the starter. How embarassing. Thank you all for your help and I am sure as I work through this truck, I will be calling on you all for help quite frequently.
Thanks again!

 

Ah well - **** happens. Glad to hear she's alive