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1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks 1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

Battery or starter

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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 09:24 PM
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Battery or starter

I have a 96 f150xl 4.9 6cyl. When truck is warm and I go to start it sometimes it turns over a couple times then nothing. Turn key back and it starts fine. It almost sounds like too much compression. Maybe a bit of bang or slap from what sounds like at the starter right when it fires but not sure its wierd. Only does this when truck is warm.
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 10:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Ronniewhite
I have a 96 f150xl 4.9 6cyl. When truck is warm and I go to start it sometimes it turns over a couple times then nothing. Turn key back and it starts fine. It almost sounds like too much compression. Maybe a bit of bang or slap from what sounds like at the starter right when it fires but not sure its wierd. Only does this when truck is warm.
ronnie, ANY PICTURES? Show us underhood. You have been here before yes but let us know what you have done as a refresher
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 10:20 PM
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so I reviewed your posts, you have 330,000km+
You have plug wires that run by eachother, possible you could be looking at induction causing starting issues

You have the original starter relay on the fender by chance? have you cleaned any connections by your battery?
any work on ground cables?
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 10:33 PM
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From: Perth Ontario

 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 10:36 PM
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that's the best pic I can get right now because it's dark and that's just the light from the street light. Probably doesn't help you much
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 10:42 PM
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What does injuction mean? I don't know about relay. I haven't done anything to battery or starter.
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 10:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Ronniewhite
What does injuction mean? I don't know about relay. I haven't done anything to battery or starter.
Induction is a thing when the wires go near eachother and that causes spark in a nearby cylinder, its a property of magnetism and high voltages. ANyway, how old is your battery? My vote is dirty connections, battery(if its old especially), relay on the fender, and then the grounds.

I dont have any pics of my recent work, but the ground next to the battery on the fender, the the 2 bolts on the relay(The relay is towards the AC Box on the passenger side, same as that ground but just closer. has 2 nuts on it and 1 wire pushed onto the top stud. )

If you clean the fender ground, and then clean the 2 sides of that relay up and then pull the relay off the truck and clean the screws/mounting flange, and then clean that stud on it, you may fix the problem. If your relay is OEM, it doesnt hurt to get a new one for cheap. A new one may come with an extra stud, if it does, you need to be sure to connect the trigger wire to the right stud.


 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 10:55 PM
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So dont deep dive on any parts unless you for sure check or tell us what the deal is with the battery and then in the morning take pics if you want me to help you with what to check
I have a 96 f150 too, if you didnt remember.

Also when did you last do a tune up? This here is just a pic of 2 autolite plugs for one of these trucks, If you were to pull 1 and check, if you see what the left one looks like, you have another issue but hopefully not
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 11:06 PM
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Not sure how old Battery is. I got it at junk yard 3yrs ago when I got the truck. I've never changed the plugs. So take the terminals off and clean the Battery posts with a wire brush or something? I'm sure There's no relay on the fender by the Battery like in that picture. I do have a set of auto lite copper plugs here for it tho. It runs really good so I just never put them in
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Ronniewhite
Not sure how old Battery is. I got it at junk yard 3yrs ago when I got the truck. I've never changed the plugs. So take the terminals off and clean the Battery posts with a wire brush or something? I'm sure There's no relay on the fender by the Battery like in that picture. I do have a set of auto lite copper plugs here for it tho.
You most DEFINITELY have a relay or your truck has been modified heavily lol

You should actually take your truck to the auto store and have a load test done. also if you can, inspect it for a date tag. I am thinking your battery is too old and its tired. You should plan a new one if the auto store cant load test it or if you find that its just low life to it

ignore my battery connections, I have since updated and fixed them up, but see my fender? See the shape/height of the battery? If you go to autozone they can get you one that would look like this one, but the group size 65 is what you need
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 11:35 PM
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What im telling you basically is that given the age, wrong size, and condition, even if your truck does start. you need a battery
WIthout a good battery, everything else becomes harder to say.

Although, when you remove your battery, you should take care to service your battery connection for sure but also check on your charge cable from alt(to the relay on the fender) for any cuts/rubs along its length. I just rrecently fixed some issues by doing that, strangest thing, and the 1996 harness is 1 year only, so you may have that too
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 11:37 PM
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I have a Battery in my boat that is only two years old. Maybe when I'm done with the boat this fall I will put that Battery in my truck. It doesn't do any of this when I first start it only when truck is warm.
 
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Old Aug 30, 2022 | 11:45 PM
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Ok ya I see the relay. Also laying down in front of the battery is a battery cable. If you can see in the picture that the negative one is blue . So someone has put a new cable on before I got the truck I will take a picture in daylight.
 
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Old Aug 31, 2022 | 12:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Ronniewhite
Ok ya I see the relay. Also laying down in front of the battery is a battery cable. If you can see in the picture that the negative one is blue . So someone has put a new cable on before I got the truck I will take a picture in daylight.
The factory negative is notoriously ****

Also the ground connection to the engine block is done through the connection at the starter bolt, which piggy backs to the frame on the frame rail(visible in diagram and in engine bay)
Then it goes to your battery cable. If the new one doesnt or if you want to ever increase the quality of the grounds, you should consider going to the alternator bracket or the alternator. It would require taking the alternator off to do it right, which you prob dont want to do this minute., but in the morning youll be able to see more
 
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Old Aug 31, 2022 | 01:14 AM
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You should also consider a tune up just generally soon your truck is probably getting a little tired up there in KM and the dirty ness of your cap+ wires could also be conductive
 
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