Ok newbie here when it comes to diesels. 2004 (February) Excursion 6.0 diesel powerstroke with 92k miles. No engine mods but it does have a lift, vehicle was purchased 7 months ago.

Yesterday when my wife went to start it up the wait to start light stayed on longer then the normal 5 sec and then went off but no crank when she turned the ign all the way. Tried it again and no problem. Drove 15 miles for dinner and then a few hours later same thing happened. This morning when I went out to check it out the the wts light stays on for about 10-15 sec goes off but then there is no crank. After a couple of hours of trying diff things it only cranked and started 3 times, but then not once the last hour.

checked all fuses with Dvm, turned key to on and used yellow wire w/ blue stripe against + terminal to get starter to turn. Sounded normal for crank but engine did not run. Used a code reader but it would get only part way through the connection process before freezing so not sure if a DTC is there or not. Fan clutch wiring looks fine and is not damaged.

Kinda stumped here any info or advice is much appreciated.

 

Big disadvantage not having access to the codes and the engine PIDs, but lets start w/ basics ..... and PLEASE be patient if the questions are more basic than they need to be for you:

Have you checked battery wires and grounds for loose connections and/or corrosion (if I read your post correctly, the problem seems somewhat intermittent)?
Have you tried cranking in neutral as well as park?
Have you tried cranking w/ the EBP disconnected? If not, give it a try.
Have you checked the inertia switch to see if it needs to be re-set?
Have you heard any relay chatter under the hood when it doesn't crank?

Was the ignition switch ON when you cranked w/ the passenger side starter jumper wire?

 

Bismic,

wow really fast reply!

Ign was on when I jumped the starter. Battery connections were all checked. I did try starting in neutral but to no avail. I will check the inertia switch tonight after work. I have not heard any relay chatter. Additionally I did disconnect the middle PCM connection and tried starting, but it did not make a difference.

What is the EBP?

Thanks for your help.

 

Oh EBP= exhaust back pressure. I'll try disconnecting that tomorrow

 

If all the large cable connections are clean, the most likely possibilities for intermittent no crank are:

Starter/or solenoid

Neutral safety switch, aka sumpin sumpin sumpin

Ignition switch

Corrosion or not installed all the way into the connector in the solenoid wire connection by the a/c box under the hood (most unlikely)

 

I'll add some PDFs to this for you.

I put sume diagrans along with the pin point testing
for No Crank/Slow Crank

You might also check the starter relay in the passenger compartment fuse box.

Let me know if you need other PDFs.

 

Ok, so got home and checked the inertia fuel switch and that's fine. Next I disconnected the EBP and tried starting but still no crank. I then replaced the starter relay (307) with a new one I picked up on my lunch. Still no crank.

Next I put the new relay in the socket for the pcm(302) Still no crank...., but now the wait to start doesn't stay on for a long time ( normal few seconds) and the "theft" light no longer blinks rapidly (I realize I forgot to mention that earlier). Also now I can hear something pressurizing under the hood like it did before. Still no crank but it's too late to mess with the neutral switch. I'll try that tomorrow.

Thanks for all the input, I'm really missing the days of working on my 68' International Harvester, man those were simple vehicles.

 

PATS >>> Grr
Remove everything from you key so that you only have the key and give that a try.
PATS can be a PITA. BUT I would like to have it in my truck. At this point getting
a code reader that will work is needed. The theft light flashing funny is a problem.
I'll pull up the PATS pin point testing tomorrow for you and post the PDFs.

 

Do you have an OEM PATS system (theft system) or aftermarket?

Edit -

Good job Sean, you are quicker than me!

I think this is the direction to head!!

 

The anti theft system is OEM. I was using my spare key last night in case there was an issue with the chip in the regular, but will disassemble one of the keys moving forward.

 

Here are the PATS diag and pinpoint tests along with a wiring diagram.

These should get you looking in the right direction. I wished I had the
info on how to count the flashes. That does point to the PAYS system
being in question. Do you have access to a tool that can read the body
DTCs from a Ford? The PATS DTCs you need to look for all seem to be
of the Bxxx type. have you had any work done to the Ex lately?

 

Last night when I changed out the pcm relay the dash lights all went back to normal and the vehicle was making the correct sounds again even though it wouldn't crank. It seemed odd that 2 issues would occur at the same time.

My wife had been talking to our neighbor, who grew up working on diesels, while Iwas at work yesterday. He tried trouble shooting the starter with the solenoid wire. When I was double checking batt voltage today, I realized he had left it unplugged. Thus when I replaced the pcm relay last night, it would not crank.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their advice and knowledge.

Sincerely,

Jonathan

 

"That" would do it.
Glad you got it running.