Diagnosing suggestions - likely electrical problem?
Thread Starter
|
5th Wheeling
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 45
Likes: 0
Diagnosing suggestions - likely electrical problem?
Hi all,
I'm hoping for some suggestions on where to start diagnosing an issue with my truck. It's strange so I don't know exactly where to start.
The truck is:
1990 F-150 XLT Lariat 4x4
4.9 Straight six
I was driving down the road about 35 MPH, and started to lose power. Noticed the voltage starting to drop and then it just died.
I was thinking it was a belt but when I pulled over, the belt is fine. It has no electrical at all when I turn the key. I had to get towed home. The tow truck driver first tried to jump it just to see what would happen and this is where it gets weird:
As soon as he hooked up the jump box to the battery terminals, it tried to turn over. Key was off. He tried it again after turning the key off an on again and it sparked at the battery so we stopped. Any ideas where to start looking?
Thanks in advance for any ideas!
I'm hoping for some suggestions on where to start diagnosing an issue with my truck. It's strange so I don't know exactly where to start.
The truck is:
1990 F-150 XLT Lariat 4x4
4.9 Straight six
I was driving down the road about 35 MPH, and started to lose power. Noticed the voltage starting to drop and then it just died.
I was thinking it was a belt but when I pulled over, the belt is fine. It has no electrical at all when I turn the key. I had to get towed home. The tow truck driver first tried to jump it just to see what would happen and this is where it gets weird:
As soon as he hooked up the jump box to the battery terminals, it tried to turn over. Key was off. He tried it again after turning the key off an on again and it sparked at the battery so we stopped. Any ideas where to start looking?
Thanks in advance for any ideas!
Thread Starter
|
5th Wheeling
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 45
Likes: 0
It did turn out to be the solenoid. I went ahead and bought all three parts (starter, solenoid and keyswitch) when I started working on it to make sure I could do it in a weekend and not have to order something. I replaced the solenoid first and that was the issue!
Side note, I had replaced both the keyswitch and the solenoid at the same time when I first got the truck from my wife's family 4 years ago or so. It had been sitting on their farm for 7 years. The solenoid was probably bad then too because the wiring was all disconnected to it. Hopefully there isn't another problem somewhere causing these to go bad. I haven't replaced the starter yet because it is working but have the part when I need to.
Thanks for the help!
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
caplan
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
5
Jun 12, 2017 08:13 AM
NotMyFord1993
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
1
Jun 6, 2017 02:12 PM
im2tall33
Ford Inline Six, 200, 250, 4.9L / 300
26
Mar 16, 2013 09:14 AM
Wicked Endings
1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
1
Apr 9, 2010 06:06 PM
