Yes it is true.

This is not in my field of expertise. My expertise is more along the lines of Electrical, Ignition and Fuel.

 

well seems you guys were right. i took off the old starter. old as in i bought this one less than a week ago. it was from driveworks. i am thinking this may just be a horrible brand. i bought the cheapest one from advanced auto parts because i just wanted to get my ford running. well i put this new one in and the solenoid is clicking really loud and the harmonic balancer is not moving. i dont have my digital multimeter (cant find it) to test the battery voltage and i have two batterys with the 660 cca's to fire up my truck. now one of them is older and one is from 3/12 when it was made. also i just had the store charge them up. so i am thinking the solenoid is working fine because it is clicking. i am thinking that the flywheel is fine because i saw no damange to the teeth. i am thinking:

1. battery voltage is too low on either battery (maybe they didnt charge them at the store and just said they did)
2. this new driveworks starter also failed. if so why did it do that.

the last one fail because the armiture was not extending the fully. -Npower

 

nevermind.

 

new starter was fine, batteries were fine. i next went to the negative battery cable and replaced it, because there was corrosion on both ends, and the truck started up fine! with idling at 1000 rpm. turned off and start agian with no problems. so are my problems solved? should i do a compression check to make sure? i grounded the negative battery cable to one of the hood bracket bolts.... i did not connect the small negative lead from the the negative battery terminal to the side ground. will that be a problem?

 

It shouldn't be a problem as long as there's a good path for the charge to flow through. But I would route it properly just to be safe.

 

yeah ill have to. the positive leads going to the solenoid were corroded to but i didnt think it that big of a deal. i took the truck up to the gas station after starting and turning it off and on a couple of times and stopped it at the gas station. tried to turn it on and the solenoid was not clicking so i am going to replaced those positive corrodded wires to the positive end of the solenoid. wish me luck. this damn thing uggh i wanna screm

 

where is the best place to sand it down and put it?

 

On my '90 the negative goes to a spot on the lower passenger side of the block and then crosses over to the frame. On my '89 F150 the cable had already bee replaced once or twice (whoever replaced them just cut them off out of laziness, I think there's two nuts on the stud) so it only went to a similar spot on the block.

 

more and more and more and more and more and more and more PROBLEMS.. this damn truck what a P.O.S. I am so angry right now, i am not even mad, just depressed. So I spent all morning and burnt out two starters. then looked at corrosion on negative and positive wires and replaced all of them. The ground goes from battery - to a spot under the bottom left hand side of the engine under the alternator where it is clamped on a screw under some brackets that hold the ac lines and the o2 cables and starter/starter iginition + cables. I REPLACED ALL OF THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE LINES.

truck starts up. runs and idles fine and i drive it back to the house. left it to sit for an hour or two. then took it a mile up to the store. no problems on the way. then got to the store was inside for 20 mins, came out and started the truck. 45 seconds into the drive. the truck is still running but rpm gauge goes to zero. battery voltage goes to zero, then odometer flashes quickly and goes to zero, driving still fine for 30 seconds. then light turns and i take off. truck is slow to go into the next gear and jumps quickly into it. all gauges still off. take a right turn to go to my house 1 mile away and the vechile almost dies. thhen picks up, speedometer goes crazy everywhere, and i make it to my house. barely. turn it off and try to turn it over agian with no response.

Plugged up OB1 scanner and code 332 (EVAP) comes up (normal). And new code 452 which is VSS (vechile speed sensor)?? wtf is going on with my truck, why is it one dam thing after another?????

1.452 trouble code no input from VSS - Ford F150 Forum
2.Have error code dtc 452 - Ford F150 Forum

did a quick google search and found these two links. quickly read threw them. i am just going to take a break from this damn truck. let you guys chime in

 

Install the small ground wire at the battery terminal to the fender.
That should take care of the guages dropping out.
You've also lost the VSS signal at the PSOM because the ground wasn't there (or good) which put the transmission in to "limp mode" i.e. strange shifting.

Make sure that the small ground wire is NOT corroded and is making a good solid connection with the fender.

That should get you up and running again.........at least this problem.


Bob

 

ok yes they were all three corroided. the medium grd wiring coming from the negative battery terminal to the fender. the two small ones (VSS??) were corroided at the end too. I am going to put three seperate eyelets on them all and drill a screw onto the place were i sanded it down to bare metal. can i have three seperate eyelits all attached by one screw? i think this will be ok? i dont understand why these wires are here

 

bob. thank you so much for helping me. i replaced all three corrodied wirings mentioned above and the truck started up perfect. i hopefully will have no more issues. but i probably will. there is a sound that i have had for awhile. sounds like an aluminum can with lots of tops being shaken about. sounds like its comming from the front different?

but alas at least the truck is running. here is what i have learned.

1. In a no start condition. always check to see if the harmonic balancer is rotating, if not then its the starter, stater solenoid, or corrodied wires

2. if the engine does start but stumbles check the fuel pressure. good readings are 35-45 psi. mine at 233000 miles was at 35 psi. if no good fuel pressure and fast skipping needle with sluggish/no throttle response. indicates bad fuel pump. any other components that result in no flow are either fuel filter or fuel pressure regulator. thats it! (ignoring fuel injectors)

3.ANY corrosion on the negative or positive leads. its a good idea it traveled down into the wire and if you cut if further away it will look corrodied (not copper red). go ahead and replace.

4. there are problems in the design of every vechile. in this model ford there are some things i really did not like. made me wanna choke whoever approved the design.
a. poor design location of fuel filter (between fuel tank and frame) requires lots of cursing and in most cases lowering of fuel tank

b. location of negative battery ground cable attachment to frame. why put it there??!!! i could barely fit my hands in there with a rachet. why not just have moved it down an inch. theres plenty of room

c. location and removal of eec IV. terrible location. and design of screw that holds jack into place. i had to remove the fender to get it out.

d. fuel pump. why not have some better way to hold/remove the fuel pump lines then taking a stupid plate and having to painfully press down to remove them???

e. stock length of positive and negative battery cables. why not give 2 to 3 inches more play to ensure enough slack in case battery terminal locations for different batteries (which they are) ???


these items above gave me the most trouble. i will continue this in a little

 

The Negative ground cable does not go to the frame. It bolts to the engine block.

Engine ground:


Fuel pump ground (G100):


Computer and Body ground G101):


Computer ground (G104):


/

 

Why thank you, but, you really need to give thanks to subford (Bill).

He (subford) did most of the "hand holding" here and believe it or not, HIS electronics knowledge was what I used to help you out.
He and I have been participating in another thread which is more or less about a ground issue in the same general location you had problems in.....right Bill ???

I do believe that I just "beat him to the punch".

Glad you're up and running again,

Bob

 

The VSS does not have a ground. It is a closed loop with the VSS being the generator.

The PSOM has a ground at the passenger kick panel (G200).


/