Thanks, Roger. I'm still hoping it's just my battery terminals. It did something similar the other day and later started, although that was using the key, and not the starter wire like I'm doing now. Pretty sure it was that second fire on the driver's battery that lost connection. But I'm going to make sure I can rotate the engine by hand before I try to crank it any more. Can you make it rotate by just pulling on the belt, or do you need a breaker bar on a bolt?

 

If it leaks fuel in so fast you cant get good test result or risk further damage from hydro lock might swap from bubble test to ballon test

let it sit overnight fuel should drain past piston ring if hydro locking

 

I use one of the bolts on the crankshaft pulley.

 

OK, the engine turns without too much effort - hand wrench on the crank bolt. Didn't change the starter. Voltmeter had that passenger battery at 12.6v - not ideal but enough to do more than clunk. Other battery is over 13v.

So, I took the starter off. What will it tell me if I benchtest it with jumper cables? If the solenoid pushes the gear out and spins it, the starter is good? Since I was using the starter wire to try to crank it in the truck, I think I eliminated all the rest of the ignition wiring as the cause - if the battery was good, either the starter or it wasn't grounded. (BTW, the bolts on the starter weren't real tight, if that matters). If the jumper cables make it work, it wasn't grounded on the truck? Or the jumper cables don't work, and it's the starter?

I recognize that I'm guilty of always trying to imagine problems are an "either/or" situation, lol. Each step is for sure, but I get there before the steps.

 

Thinking ahead, to when I ever get the starter to crank again...if I fail the bubble test, I want to narrow down to which injectors. I see a balloon test that attaches balloons to each fuel line to see which balloon inflates from compression gas. Would I accomplish the same thing by simply disconnecting one fuel line and capping the regulator bowl, then fill it with fuel and see if it still bubbles. If it does, the leak is on the connected side, if not it's on the other. If that makes sense, where would I find a cap? Would it require a high pressure cap (cap with my finger?).

 

You could do the balloon test that way, I suppose. But, I suspect you'll spend a lot more time tracking down a face seal o-ring cap for the fitting than just putting a balloon on both sides. And what if there are bad injectors on both banks?

And a tip for the line nuts . . . Put a small cable tie on each fuel line a short distance from the nut to keep it from sliding down the line to where you need a magnet on a stick to retrieve it.

 

it's actually hard to find one of these old trucks without zip ties already on the fuel lines. I've bought a dozen or so of them and can't remember needing to put ties on any of them.

 

Loose starter bolts will affect current flow on the negative side. They need to be tight.

Testing the starter with jumper cables outside of the engine will only tell you if the solenoid is pulling the starter gear into the flywheel. But you could have that happen and if the starter has an issue, or poor contact of the solenoid discs, still only get a thunk.

A better approach would have been to have the starter in place and use a voltmeter to check voltage at the solenoid post to the starter, and see what the voltage is when you jump it.

There’s various other voltage checks you could be doing at the starter, but what I explained is a good basic.
.

 

Thanks, Jack. I'm a dozen steps behind you, pedaling as fast as I can. Yeah, the starter benchtests OK, as in the gear jumps out and spins. But, you're saying that doesn't mean it's good - OK. Kinda the same with the battery - even though it says 12.6v, it may not work under load.

I came here to post that I should just be checking voltage at the starter, as you suggest. Sadly, I'm as much of a jake-leg as ever and will have to rig up some way to read my voltmeter at the starter while touching the starter wire at the battery, extensions for my leads or a remote starter. I'm thinking it will be easier to check the starter wire by not installing the starter. Just hardwire the dangling starter wire to the battery up top, then crawl underneath and use my grounded voltmeter to see if the battery voltage is at the bottom of that starter wire.

If so, I'll install the starter, checking it's ground strap and bolts, and try again. If it still clunks, I gotta buy a new starter.

 

Aaaarrgh, I get frustrated so easily these days. Nothing is easy, nothing goes as planned. I could roll with it a lot better in my younger years.

The starter bench tests OK, so I take it back to the storage lot and put it on the truck. Hook up the batteries, touch the starter wire, and it cranks completely normal, fast, smooth. Beautiful. I'm guessing it's because I've tightened those mounting bolts.

So, I turn the key on and off to fill the fuel bowl for the bubble test. Climb on top of the engine to see into the bowl and touch the starter wire to the battery, and nothing. Back to just a click. LOL. I'm such a loser.

I think the problem may be a connectivity issue at the positive battery clamp. Mostly because the stud is stripped so that the nut won't tighten it down.to the post. At one point, while I was touching the starter wire to it repeatedly, it quit doing anything, no click, nothing. I got it to click again by wiggling the clamp, but not to start.

I didn't have what I need to extend my voltmeter down to the starter to confirm that voltage is getting to the starter, but the way it started the first time makes me think the ground and connections are good. The battery voltage is still good.

It occurred to me that maybe it is hydrolocked. Maybe the cylinder had drained down since yesterday, so it spun normal the first time. But then, when I turned the key to fill the fuel bowl for the bubble test, maybe it also re-filled the cylinder through a broken injector to re-create the hydrolock situation? IDK, doesn't sound likely, but I checked again. I'm still able to rotate the engine by hand - although I only got it to turn clockwise (facing, from the bumper). I kinda tried to go the other direction too, but couldn't get much leverage with the wrench. Does it matter which way it can rotate? I'm assuming that even if hydrolocked, it will turn backwards, dropping that piston away from the head to release the hydrolock. I rotated the crank pulley a couple of revolutions

Anyone have a good fix for replacing those integrated battery clamps without buying/installing a new harness? Is there a link to someone doing it?

 

More likely, the conducting disc in the solenoid is corroded and is not making good contact, so the motor is not receiving current. The solenoid pulls out the drive gear, but the electric motor doesn't get current. Or one of the motor's brushes gets hung up. The brush hangup is temporarily resolved by tapping the starter with a hammer.

 

Cables on my 6.0 are still factory, but I put all new cables on my 6.2 diesel using bronze battery terminals with a single stud & wing nut. Used heavy gauge welding cable & crimped on copper ring terminals. Works great on that truck & it has a HUGE starter & 21:1 compression. I think lots of folks here have called these "Military Terminals"? Would be lots cheaper than buying the new factory cable.

 

OK. got the batteries all charge and it cranks fine. Had time today to do the bubble test and definitely has an injector leak. But not the biggest I've ever seen. I feel comfy that I only have one bad injector, it was starting fairly easily after the first failure, which I don't think it would do with two or more bad injectors. Also actually ran fine for a few minutes, revving to 2500 without issue, and then slowly losing power when I was on the side of the road. Finally, as I've mentioned, I only need this truck to work for another 500 miles or so, a few more trips to the dump and Home Depot.

So, total wasted money so far, and all of y'all's time, lol - a $600 fuel pump I didn't need, $80 worth of fuel filters I didn't need, $70 worth of fuel lines and clamps to confirm my tank wasn't clogged (seemed crazy that those cost that much), and (finally a good/not so bad decision), one used 6.4 starter for $50 that I didn't need. LOL

I did get a good deal on the tow home - $250. The guy first towed my trailer of roofing materials to the dump and helped me unload it, then took it to my lot, and came back to tow-rope pull my truck to the lot. About 5 miles away.

Oh yeah, I drained $40 worth of diesel out of the tank. So, about $1100 down right out of the gate, lol But, hopefully, I'm just a $300 injector away from being on the road again. I guess, all-in-all, not a bad deal, if I the injector fixes it. Most non-DIY types would have been out as least that much, prolly more.

 

Hopefully the transmission survived the flat tow. That has been known to cause damage without the pump running.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ear-issue.html