1979 F350 with 460 gas engine. Ran fine last week, tried to start this weekend and only get click at ignition. No crank, jumping was unsuccessful. Help

 

Welcome to FTE.

Trace your wires from the battery all the way to the starter. Check for corrosion, connection and condition of the wire itself.

How old is the battery? If it shorted out internally or otherwise came apart internally, you would be lucky to get a click out of it and it might not start even with a jump.

Have you tried a known good battery?

 

And when you say "jumping" in this case, we need to know which method you are referring to.

1. Jumping a known good battery or other vehicle to your existing battery.
2. Jumping the battery straight to the starter with heavy gauge cable, or actual jumper cables. (bypasses existing cables)
3. Jumping from the battery side terminal to the "S" terminal (small one next to battery side where the Red w/blue wire attaches).
4. Jumping from one side of the starter relay to the other (still going through the cables).

Jumping with another vehicle or battery without success is a good indication that your battery is good, but that something is buggered between the battery, fender mounted starter relay (aka "solenoid") and the starter.
Including, as 85e150 mentioned, the battery and starter cables themselves.

Jumping directly from your battery to the starter without success means that it's either the battery does not have enough power, or the starter is dead. Or, in less common cases, the engine is frozen up. Rare, but does happen so needs to be mentioned.

Jumping from the battery to the small "S" terminal and just getting a click could still be a dead battery, bad relay, bad cabling, or bad starter.

Jumping from one side of the starter relay to the other is the same. Dead battery, dead cable (or cables), or dead starter.

Unfortunately that means you have some more tests to perform to narrow it down.
The good new, if you can call it that, is that you are getting the telltale click that says your ignition switch, neutral safety switch (if applicable) and Red w/blue wires are all doing their job. It's not great news, but at least it's one less thing to check and re-check.

Good luck.

Paul

 

try a couple good hammer knocks on the starter motor see if it does anything then.. if not then probly is voltage or connection issue or weak switch on fender. . if you jumped cables at switch and stil nothing then starter probly jammed or brushes burnt or armature shorted. sometimes a hammer knock or two will free them up, or not.' being that you get click from the solenmoid switch the starer motor is probly stuck. most likely. but not for sure. depends on if the battery has dropped or not, it should be sitting around 12.5 volts if all cells are ok.

 

What fast said. Always try the whack-it method first especially if you just need to get going. Amazing how many have gotten motivated like that over the years.
Of course, if it does work, it still means that your starter is on limited life support and needs to be replaced at your earliest convenience. Same for a starter that spins, but won't engage the gears every now and then.
I've dragged out the life of one like that for about a year once, but it finally left me stranded and no amount of coaxing or smacking would get it going again.

Paul

 

Similar situation happened with my 390 once. Went to the parts store and when I came out the truck would only click. I knew the battery was fine but couldn't figure it out. A guy came out from the store and asked for a screwdriver. He then used the handle to whack the voltage regulator a few times. That did the trick! He said sometimes they get sticky inside or something like that. Either way, it worked and got the truck going. I'd give that a shot before replacing anything.