I am a new owner of a 94 F350 7.3 turbo diesel. I loaded up the back with lumber from the local Home Depot, and tried to start the truck, but no go. The positive batter cable was very corroded, and the batteries are 4 years old. I just thought I didn't have enough juice to turn it over. After replacing the $96.00 batter cable and both batteries, still no go.

Any advice on what the issue might be now? The starter never spins, the glow plugs glow, and there is some clicking but no joy.

I feel like it is the starter, but any advice on how to test it, or has anybody had the starter just DIE, no advance notice, no whirring, etc?

TIA for helping the newb.

Gunner

 

ya could take jumper cables and go rite from the battery (wich must be fully charged) to the starter. bypassing all the relays and wiring. make sure the key is on and please please make sure that the truck is in neutral before doing this. if its starts then its not the starter. but a rely/solnieod if it dont then its the starter.

 

I agree with redneck; that is a fast way to check but just be safe when you do it....

And I hate to suggest something you have already tried but here is a little story about a situation I had that is similar to yours:

I had an 80' something flatbed f350 once, with a worn out 400 (you could turn over by hand) and it quit in the field on me one day.

Know why?

The headlights worked, radio played, jumped the battery, still nothing.

Figure it out yet?

Could hear the starter clicking, so it must be the starter- until I saw smoke at the negative post!

*** Please check your negative cables too!! ***

That old POS had those "save a cable" negative ends that feature a terminal that bolts onto the end of the negative cable with two little bolts and a strap- the $2.00 parts man specials.

Enough corrosion had built up under the little strap that it would not let that starter get a good enough ground. Took the little strap off, scraped the copper shiny again, rebolted the strap, and it fired right off.

I bet you have already checked your grounds, but an interesting story nevertheless

 

Redneck,

I presume you just run the negative to ground, and touch the positive to the terminal on the starter. What confuses me about that (due to my ignorance about starters) is doesn't the battery get connected directly to the starter as it is? The pos cable runs right from the battery to the starter terminal. There is another smaller gauge wire that runs from the starter to a relay (I presume) that sits near the right side battery on the outer wall. That when you turn the key to start, that relay completes the circuit and allows the starter to crank. Am I totally off base with that?

In short, I am looking for some more direction about how to test that. What I am reading is that I hook jumper cables from the battery to the starter, ground to ground, red to pos on battery and the other end to where?

 

MRZ,

Thanks for the story. You are right on assuming I didn't change the neg cables, none in stock Saturday night. I will definately find another parts store and just order both sides for the sake of doing it right.

That story is quite familiar, in that everything powers just fine, but no cranky.

Thanks for all the advice, I will post a reply on the results from both yours and rednecks advice.


Gunner, (Ford Diesel Newb)

 

Gunwalder-

did you check your grounds?

The starter does have 12 volts going to it- that big cable. And yes, the little wire that goes to the solenoid completes the circuit- so when you turn the key, it energises the little wire at the relay on the fenderwell and the starter drive, bendix, whatever you prefer to call it, pops the gear to the flywheel or flexplate (ring gear but lets keep it simple) and the starter spins.

So in a sense Redneck is telling you to jump the 12 volts in the big cable to the little wire on the starter itself, causing the starter drive to engage and the starter should whirl away, but make sure the vehicle ignition is on and in PARK or NEUTRAL!! Or else it will run away with you under it

*** All you need to do then is connect the little wire to the big wire on the starter to make the starter spin, and release when you want it to stop (or the motor starts) Make sure whatever you use is insulated so ther is not much sparking ***

And if you really want to know if your starter is good, take it to an auto parts store, they can spin test it for you. Always spin test a new starter if you buy one, before you go through the trouble of installing it.

 

One more thing....

Back in the day when we were young and dumb and full of beer we would simply lay an insulated screwdriver- the metal portion of the screwdriver, holding onto the insulated part- accross the terminals of the relay there on the fenderwell to bump the starter, instead of spending the money on a remote starter switch.... As you can tell, always worked on Fords, since Chevies are harder to get at , with the solenoid down there on the starter and all, just like the starters on our diesels.

Either way, you can jump the starter at the relay on the fenderwell by connecting the two big posts briefly or touching the little post on the coil on the starter to the big post from the positive battery cable on the starter itself.

And another thing, some people call it solenoid, others relay- Some people starter drive, others bendix - he he he so confusing

I need to learn the lingo better.

 

I was thinking takeing the jumper cables negative on the bat to the starter body engein mount some metal thats good and thick attched to the starter directly and most importantly clean. then take the pos from the battery down to the starter there should be yar big batery cabble going from the bat to the starter there should be a cover think its plastic over the big bat cable coming in rite next to it another bolt thats the hot for the starter putting 12volt here should make the starter spin. what yar trying to do is elimante all the trucks wiring so that ya can see if the starter is good or not. ya could jump the relays etc but uf ya have a bad wire some were it might not spin over even if the starter is good. there should be alot of sparks when ya make the last connection to the starter so be careful not to catch anything on fire and to elimante some sparks smack it rite against the bolt and hols it tight then it onlt sparks for a split second. good luck and be careful that the truck aint in gear. If the starter does spin by doing this then work backwards from the starter to the batery checking all wires and relays soilinds wwhatever ya want to call them back to the battery.

 

You guys rock. Thanks for taking the time to help with this. I will test tonight and let you know what I find.

Gunner

 

Sorry to be so slow for an update.

Starter was bod, 130 bucks later, good to go. Of course, that was after new batteries and cables.

Thanks for the info and help redneck and MRZ

G