Hello everybody,
Not sure if this is weird to yall, i read several posts about cranking but wont start, information system says failure etc.. but didnt find anything with my encounter.
I tried to do the automatic start this morning and it just honked at me. Put the key in to start normal and all it would do it hit the starter and stop, hit the starter and stop like it was pulsing. figured the battery may be weak so i hooked it up with some cables and let it sit for 10 minutes and tried again but it did the same thing. nothing came over the information center.
bad starter??

Hopefully my signature changed, if not i have a 2012 f250 6.7 4x4 lariat with everything except the toilet.

Thank you in advance.

 

This is likely dead/bad batteries.. I know it sounds odd but since the computer is in charge of starting the truck (not the key switch really ) it starts to crank, the voltage drops too low and it stops trying to crank because the computer went to sleep.

Bill

 

Ok so just to ask, can the batteries be "dead/bad" just enough that it will not start the truck but all of the electronics still work while trying to start? The screen never turned off and the lights in the cab did not go dim. And of course like a good lazy d/a i did not pull out the meter to check the batteries because i had to get to work...

 

Yep, it happened to me.. I'd pull both batteries out, charge them and test individually.

I had one that was self discharging and drawing both down.

Bill

 

My 2012 batteries are starting to show issues also. Not as bad as yours.

What you can do with the batteries with them in the truck is

1. Check the fluid level of the batteries, The fluid should be above each cell of the battery. Fill with distilled water.

2. If you have a hydrometer you can measure the density of the fluid to check the health. If I replaced the battery fluid I can get one or two more years out of the batteries. Its about 6 bucks per battery to do this. I would not do that to super duty diesel.


After that you can pull the batteries have them battery checked. But they don't check the fluid level nor do they use a hydrometer to check the fluid strength.

In general I replace batteries every 3 to 5 years. Factory batteries seem to fail faster then others.

 

Thank you everybody for the responses. Going to pick up 2 new batteries from Ford in a few minutes. $129.99 each they said... we shall see.
Will report back tomorrow.

 

Normally the simplest way to see if the batteries are dead/bad.....turn headlights on....and then try to start the truck.......if the lights go out or really dim....usually a sign of bad batteries or possibly bad alternator if batteries are fairly new....

 

Same thing happened to me on my 2011. Although I couldn't start it with the key, it would start with the remote.

Once I got the batteries replaced, no more issues... And you don't get any warning, it started fine and I drove it 1 mile down the road, stopped it, and it wouldn't restart... A real pucker factor as I was just getting ready to drive into Canada and be in very rural areas when it started to do this. Let us know if that is the issue.

And I don't know what you tried to jump the truck with, but if it isn't another diesel truck and you don't have really good jumper cables it doesn't work as it takes a lot of power to turn the motor over.

 

Suggest checking and maintaining the grounds. A sorts of electrical evil from bad grounding; a real favourite of the prince of darkness.

 

Pulled the batteries and cleaned the terminals (they had a very little grim on them) and greased em up, put new batteries in. Tried the remote start first and still got a honk instead of a start but then put the key in the ignition and it fired right up. I did not charge the batteries before installation so I figure that maybe they didnt have quite enough juice for the remote start? Drove it around for about 20 minutes and tried remote start again once the engine cooled and worked just fine.
Thank you all for the good advice!

 

Glad to hear you got it started.

 

Because of the computer resets, I'm not sure that remote start works after a battery swap. My fiesta with the Ford 100A remote start wouldn't remote after a battery failed (dropped cell), had to start it the old fashioned way first, it remote started after that without issue.

 

FYI, remote start will not work if the hood is open or partially open. There's a hood switch and I had one go bad on me. Took a long time to figure out my no remote start was due to that little switch not working right....

 

I did not know that; that is good information.

 

Another little tidbit that can drive you bonkers is that switch...

To the OP - Glad you got the truck sorted out!