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1983 f150 351w starter will not engage and it kills all electrics when doing so, I have to go wiggle the positive terminal on the battery for the electrics to start working again, what’s wrong with it?
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From: Virginia
Your positive terminal is bad. You can have a good enough connection to run the domelight, radio and dashlights, but the same connection is not good enough for all the current the starter needs. Go to the store and get a short universal battery cable and install it from the solenoid to the battery and then see how it does. If your negative cable is loose and ratty, you can get a new one of those also.
Thread Starter
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Freshman User
Joined: Feb 2021
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Your positive terminal is bad. You can have a good enough connection to run the domelight, radio and dashlights, but the same connection is not good enough for all the current the starter needs. Go to the store and get a short universal battery cable and install it from the solenoid to the battery and then see how it does. If your negative cable is loose and ratty, you can get a new one of those also.
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Freshman User
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it did it while I was turning it over as well, my flywheel is pretty bad so my starter gets caught in it sometimes and eats some teeth, when it caught and scraped I let off the key and when I went back to turn it back over, it did the think where it would kill everything if I’d hit the key.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2013
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From: Tolland, CT
Sounds like you have more then one problem. Are there any other known issues you haven't told us about ?
Give us some history of the truck, did you just get it or have you been driving it every day for many years ?
We can guess but more complete history may us guide you.
You should make sure the battery terminals and cables are in good shape. Did you clean and tighten both terminals on the battery ?
How do you know the FW has issues ?
Give us some history of the truck, did you just get it or have you been driving it every day for many years ?
We can guess but more complete history may us guide you.
You should make sure the battery terminals and cables are in good shape. Did you clean and tighten both terminals on the battery ?
How do you know the FW has issues ?
Lead Driver
Joined: Nov 2013
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it did it while I was turning it over as well, my flywheel is pretty bad so my starter gets caught in it sometimes and eats some teeth, when it caught and scraped I let off the key and when I went back to turn it back over, it did the thing where it would kill everything if I’d hit the key.
Fix the known problem first. The cable in need of wiggling is bad. Replace it. See post #2.
After that, with any luck, you may find the starter/flywheel engagement problem clears itself up. The starter needs a good “head of steam” to properly engage the flywheel. It can’t just mush slowly into place. Proper engagement is not going to happen with a bad cable that repeatedly fails under the massive load of the starter.
Edit: Almost forgot to get on my soapbox. Make sure your poor battery is fully charged. Don't rely on the alternator to have kept the battery topped off, especially with a known-bad cable. I'd suggest charging the battery overnight with an automatic charger with at least a ten amp output. A trickle charger won't cut it. [/soapbox mode off]
Thread Starter
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Freshman User
Joined: Feb 2021
Posts: 39
Likes: 1
Fix the known problem first. The cable in need of wiggling is bad. Replace it. See post #2.
After that, with any luck, you may find the starter/flywheel engagement problem clears itself up. The starter needs a good “head of steam” to properly engage the flywheel. It can’t just mush slowly into place. Proper engagement is not going to happen with a bad cable that repeatedly fails under the massive load of the starter.
Edit: Almost forgot to get on my soapbox. Make sure your poor battery is fully charged. Don't rely on the alternator to have kept the battery topped off, especially with a known-bad cable. I'd suggest charging the battery overnight with an automatic charger with at least a ten amp output. A trickle charger won't cut it. [/soapbox mode off]
After that, with any luck, you may find the starter/flywheel engagement problem clears itself up. The starter needs a good “head of steam” to properly engage the flywheel. It can’t just mush slowly into place. Proper engagement is not going to happen with a bad cable that repeatedly fails under the massive load of the starter.
Edit: Almost forgot to get on my soapbox. Make sure your poor battery is fully charged. Don't rely on the alternator to have kept the battery topped off, especially with a known-bad cable. I'd suggest charging the battery overnight with an automatic charger with at least a ten amp output. A trickle charger won't cut it. [/soapbox mode off]
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