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I have a 1994 Ford F150 5.0 and I don't think the starter is wired correctly. The wire from the + battery post is in the top bolt and where the small pigtail goes there is another wire from the + battery post. I do not see a ground of any kind attached to the starter at all. When I turn the key the engine will not turnover, it tries to slowly but then it just stops turning over.
I have a 1994 Ford F150 5.0 and I don't think the starter is wired correctly. The wire from the + battery post is in the top bolt and where the small pigtail goes there is another wire from the + battery post. I do not see a ground of any kind attached to the starter at all. When I turn the key the engine will not turnover, it tries to slowly but then it just stops turning over.
Here's what mine looks like.
You may just have a bad solenoid, replace it (make sure your battery is holding a good charge first)
Check the ground cable from your battery negative to the engine block and/or frame. I'm pretty sure the starter is grounded via it's mounting bolts and that ground cable, through the engine block.
The picture Junktownbill99 posted is the older style, direct drive starter wiring. You should have a gear reduction starter.
Ok, so I replaced the starter relay that is attached to the frame of the truck and put a new battery because the old battery was showing low voltage. When I turn the key it still doesn't turn over. I tried to jump the relay by putting a screwdriver on both poles and it still doesn't turn over. The engine just turns like once and then it stops turning over. I have replaced the spark plugs, coils, distributor cap, and rotor. I just feel like the starter isn't wired correctly, I'll take a picture of the wiring on the starter and post it.
Check the wiring connections, as stated above, for corrosion.
Do you have a volt meter?
As long as the battery has power, you should have 12 volts at the yellow dots.
When the key is turned to the start position, 12 volts should be present at the green dot.
That voltage to the green dot closes the connection at the fender mounted relay and voltage goes to the red dots.
That energizes the starter motor solenoid and power flows from the yellow to the blue dots and turns the starter.
If you are only looking at the battery pos / + side you also need to look at the meg / - side of the battery.
You should have a ground cable from the battery to the motor, motor to frame and motor to fire wall.
All them connections need to be clean and tight.
Dave ----
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you guys had stuff with the kids. I'll try and do a drop test on the starter today. I finally got the pics of the top under the hood and by the starter. Thanks for all of the feedback, I am going to keep plugging away at it. The truck was parked for about 3 years and given to me so I've been trying like hell to get it going! One other thing I wanted to add, I got the truck to start running when I first got it. It would misfire a bit so I replaced the plugs, distributor cap, coils, and rotor. When I took it out afterwards I noticed there was smoke coming from under the hood. When I parked it and looked under the hood the ground wire from the battery to the frame for the accessories had completely fried like burnt up. So, I went and got a 4 gauge wire and made a new ground which is the green wire you see in the picture. After that happened it set all of this off. Hope that helps.
Last edited by Agavila73; Apr 8, 2024 at 10:03 AM.
Reason: Additional info
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you guys had stuff with the kids. I'll try and do a drop test on the starter today. I finally got the pics of the top under the hood and by the starter. Thanks for all of the feedback, I am going to keep plugging away at it. The truck was parked for about 3 years and given to me so I've been trying like hell to get it going! One other thing I wanted to add, I got the truck to start running when I first got it. It would misfire a bit so I replaced the plugs, distributor cap, coils, and rotor. When I took it out afterwards I noticed there was smoke coming from under the hood. When I parked it and looked under the hood the ground wire from the battery to the frame for the accessories had completely fried like burnt up. So, I went and got a 4 gauge wire and made a new ground which is the green wire you see in the picture. After that happened it set all of this off. Hope that helps.
if i had a **** poor positve connection like that , I wouldnt want to start either (if i was a vehicle)
Youre also missing a screw on the starter relay solenoid doodad, it needs to ground through the screws and it has only 1 of 2.
SMP on Cockauto has nice quality cables with good batt post terminals, for a reasonable cost. Start there, you have a mess on your hands at the moment.
Use a jumper cable from the battery negative post to the engine. Then try cranking the engine over. The temporary jumper will provide a ground path for testing. Your body ground cable melted because of excessive current flow due to a poor ground path to the engine. You need to resolve the battery to engine ground problem. On V8 engines the negative cable does not attach to the starter mounting bolt like the inline 6 cylinder engine (poor design BTW). It's attached to the block.
The 4.9L uses a crimp on lug for the ground point at the starter bolt. Seen more than a few grow corrosion there or simply loosen over time. That was my reference to poor design.
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