A co worker gave me an 1986 F-150 5.0 302 with 225,000 miles that he had sitting for 1 year in driveway. He never put the new alternator in that he bought. I towed it to my house and put the alt. in jumped the battery and it started but idle was horrible. turned the idle screw to get bad gas burned off.

Whenever I shut it off or it died from idle I would have to jump it. So, I put new 56-3 battery new relay and it started right up. Drove it down the road to test drive, the truck would want to fowl out whenever I stepped on gas peddle hard. I put Sea Foam and Lucas in the tank and 20.00 premium on top. but now the truck will not turn over since it was shut off unless i jump it but needs jumping all the time. thought it was the starter so, replaced that and still tick, tick, tick, tick when trying to start won't turn over. Its going to start to make me drink, any Idea of what I can replace now or have checked? maybe its the Alternator he gave me with the truck? Please help!

 

The problem is generic, but this is the 97-03 forum. You may have more luck with those guys. However....you are jumping around with various issues. Start with the battery circuit since that is where you started. Get it running and test for 14-14.5 volts at the battery....that will tell you if it is charging. Then test the battery after you shut it down....should be 12.3-12.5...somewhere in that area. Let it sit all night and see what the battery voltage is in the morning...it should hold or you have parasitic drain or more likely a bad battery. It has sat for a year.....in a carbed motor....so other issues may be present....but systematically proceed. Good luck and let us know.

 

Thanks Spotty,

That was a quick reply.... It is fuel injected and when it was running i could hear the injectors ticking.. I should have tested the Alternator he gave me before I installed it....Instead I bought new battery( he did have a 56-1 which was the wrong battery to begin with..., relay, and starter. I don't think its getting enough power excpecially when there is a load on engine when I test drove it.. now it just clicks or nothing when I turn the key. going to take alt. out to get tested.

 

Well you have to pause a moment and look at the bigger picture.
Clean all the cable ends, check the cables for corrosion under the insulation, check for good connection grounds.
This has to be the basis for good starting.
Next have you checked the alternator for operation after starting?
The voltage at the battery should be well over 15 volts after cranking indicating he alternator is outputting, then tapering down as the battery recovers it's charge.
If not charging, the battery won't be there for you the next time you go to crank the motor.
The clicking you hear is the start relay coming up, connecting to the starter, voltage drops, the relay drops, then it repeats all over again as the click click you hear.
Lastly you should have never changed the idle stop setting.
It is not used to set idle except to satisfy the automatic air control for unassisted starting with just the key.
You will have to work out that system as the issues come up.
The idle stop is set for two parameters.
1. So the throttle plate does not stick in the throttle body bore when engine cools down.
2. It is part of the airflow design.
Open to far and you will have cold start and hot restart issues.
.
What happens is the IAC is forced to operate outside it's normal range due to the airflow change it try's to account for and upsets the normal starting and idle control parameters.
A way to get it back for you is to get the motor running smooth enough, then remove the IAC connector while running. This will normally drop the idle.
.
Note: the motor won't start with the IAC connector off but you can remove it [after] starting..
.
Set the idle stop to a low rpm that will just allow the motor to idle without stalling. Put connector back on the IAC. Idle should raise back up to normal range. From this you can see the importance of the throttle stop in the scheme of the operation.
.
The truck is old, expect many issues. Repair as needed until all is as should be.
Cold and hot start should be near perfect if the system is fault free.
What you have now after battery has ben replaced is the motor has not run long enough from cold to allow the computer to relearn the cold and hot start sequence as it needs for fault free starting.
Bottom line is you have a series of issues to work out before this can all take place.
These are some of the major reasons you now have the truck.
The last owner did not deal with the issues.
Good luck.