So I went out to my truck yesterday and turned the key and nothing. I pop open the hood and throw on a battery charger. I go out a hour or so later and turn the key and still nothing so I figure it's the solenoid. I turn the key on and go bypass the solenoid and it cranks over and fires then dies so I go and set the choke and do it again and she roars to life and promptly starts accelerating backwards into my work van.

So next time when it won't turn over I'll check something simply like is it in park?

 

For an engine to crank up and run it has to have the right mixture of spark, air, and fuel.

If you hear a click; it's usually your solenoid.

 

Ford had a problem with the NSS on these trucks. You're certainly not the first member that this has happened too. I forget who but a while back a guy did the same thing as you, cept his was in drive...and it went into a river. It was totalled.

Next time I'd jiggle the shifter a little

 

It's just habit for me. Every time I get in the truck I hit the shifter before I start it up.

 

just get a 4speed lol then its a habit to push in the clutch or make sure its in neutral

 

my wife did me a favor one time when we went into burgerking and ate, well afterwards i hit the toilet (burgerking will do that to you) and she went out and jumped in the passanger side of the truck, and started it for me. well needless to say she luckily got it shut off before it backed into the burgerking.

at least i didnt have to walk as far to get in it when i got outa the toilet.

 

The NSS worked just fine it was just the idiot that was outside of the truck bypassing the solenoid.

 

Thankfully it wasn't in "D" and run over you. Trucks and vans can be fixed more easily!

Similar thing happened to me with my 1978 Toyota Celica when in 1995 when I was a jr in high school. I couldn't get the damn thing to start one day after school. Walked-home, picked-up my mom's car to run my girlfriend to work, then my buddy and I went to go tow the car home with his Dad's Ranger. (The compact kind, not the dent-side kind.) When I shifted into Neutral for the tow home, realized it hadn't been in PARK. I let my buddy tow me home anyway, so he wouldn't know my dumb mistake. Told him later that it was the NSS. I've never told anyone this story until today.

 

Actually, it's the exact opposite.

The "click" is the solenoid working. If you hear a click, the problem is not the solenoid at all. I do not understand why this misconception has existed in people's minds since the beginning of time. Countless people on this site have wasted $20 on a new solenoid because of this exact advice.

When the solenoid clicks, you're hearing the sound of the giant slug inside slamming closed, connecting the battery to the starter through a circular plate. This is ALL the solenoid has to do. If the solenoid clicks yet the starter does not turn, something else is wrong. If the solenoid clicks and the starter turns yet the motor does not start then the starting system has nothing to do with the equation anymore because it's doing it's job.

When the solenoid chatters, this STILL does not implicate the solenoid. This means the working voltage of the battery is too low - either because of a low battery, bad battery, bad connections, or bad battery cables. The chatter happens because the battery voltage starts out high enough, so turning the key closes the solenoid - but as soon as the low-impedance starter is connected to the battery, the battery voltage is brought down low enough to let go of the solenoid. This disconnects the starter, which lets the battery voltage go back up, and since you're still holding on to the key, the solenoid closes again - over and over and over.

Folks, please digest this post and commit it to memory and stop wasting $20.

 

Ha! I did that once... in D. I crunched a chest freezer in my garage pretty good when it lurched forward. Embarrassing! My wife still gives me a hard time about it.

 

I did the same thing once in my 78
in an icy hospital parking lot! I almost ran over myself trying to run around and get in to stop it just before it would have hit a nice new conversion van.
luckily no one saw me

 

hahaha, the girlfriend did a similar thing. Couldn't figure out why her car wouldn't start. I was at work. Told her to wait until I got home, instead she called a tow truck, 80 bucks later and the guy putting her car in park for her got her car started...

 

way more fun shut and lock the and watch as it rolls down the drive right toward your D.D

 

LOL THANKS.

 

Since the OP didn't mention the year, which of the three different NSS's are you referring to that FoMoCo had trouble with? I'm not aware of any problematic NSS's, but I am aware of the following that affects 1967/77's.

1967/77 F100/350: The NSS (C7TZ-7A247-A) is steering column mounted, is operated by spring steel selector lever (DOTZ-7B097-B) that snaps onto the shift tube thru a hole in the mast jacket.

This lever has a knife bladed tip that fits into the NSS. The tip is notorious for snapping off, and the lever can lose tensile strength, causing it to fall off the shift tube.

When either occurres, the truck can be started in any gear.

1978/79 F100/350: The NSS's are transmission mounted. C6 (D8TZ-7A247-A) uses a different NSS than C4 (D8TZ-7A247-B).