I used my p/u yesterday, drove 100 miles or so and after I got home and shut off the engine I went out several hours later to move it and it wouldn't start. All it would do was make a clicking noise down by the starter so I put the charger on it as I thought maybe I had left the switch on etc. and run the batt. down. When I went to try and start it this morning the same thing , it would just click. I took a pair of pliers and jumped the solenoid posts and all it would do is spark until I started to jiggle the pliers handle back and forth then it started. I let it run for a half hour or so and shut it off, came back several hours later and tried it 2-3 times and it would start every time. Any ideas what might be causing it to start-not start? New batt. this summer, solenoid & starter replaced 3-4 years ago.

 

Ground or starter again.
I went through two in two years.

 

Start simple, I would check & clean the connections at the battery all the way to the starter, both positive and negative cables. All the while inspecting for corrosion. Sometimes battery cables can corrode from the inside out leaving outward appearances looking fine.

 

I checked the bat. and starter cables this A.M. and found that both cables on the starter pos. & ground had corrosion on them so took them loose and cleaned them up and tightened them down. Everything works like it should now so we'll see if anything pops up over the next few days. Thanks

 

Sometimes when you have a starting problem like this, have someone else try to start your truck while you are looking at the battery cables and where they go down to the starter. I have seen many times a puff of smoke come right out of the cable, guess what, replace the cable, it is defective. Sometimes on crimped cable ends you can see a puff of smoke, same thing, replace the cable. if your house was built like automobile electrics are, your house would have burned down already.
Good luck
Darryl..

 

New to Fords but I had a Dodge with a similar problem and it had a bad neutral safety switch.

 

what was it?