starting issues

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Dec 28, 2003 | 06:59 PM

johnnyg05

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starting issues

i have an 89 f-150 with 5.0. clock reads 81,xxx, is at least 181 or 281k on origional motor. truck runs fine, but dosn' like starting. when stone cold, she lugs when cranking, but easily fires and runs. drive down to dunk's for my coffee, go to start truck, she barely cranks once, almost like the bat is dead. wait a minute, turn key, and same thing, barely cranks once. wait a minute, hit key again, and the cranks slowly at first, then incredably fast, like the starter is disengaged from fly wheel, but engine is cranking, and does start. when she does start she stumbles at first, but then runs fine.

my first thought was leave her running all the time and shove a book under the front tire, no parking brake to keep her from rolling in neutral.

Any ideas to help me out?? what book should i use?

John

Dec 28, 2003 | 09:20 PM

TheWiz427

Post Fiend

Joined: Apr 2002

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From: Woodruff, SC

You might just need to clean them but check your battery connections.

Dec 29, 2003 | 05:48 AM

RTM

Cargo Master

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From: Sunny Florida

You may also have a bad starter. Are the cables in good shape?

Dec 29, 2003 | 07:16 AM

johnnyg05

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starter and batt are 6 months old. all cables and connections are good. replaced them to fix this problem, but no help.

Dec 29, 2003 | 07:23 AM

RTM

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From: Sunny Florida

Maybe a bad ground some where? Is the ground strap from the firewall to the engine in place? Other than that I am at a loss as to why this would be happening. It still could be a bad starter. It appears it's new and this is the first time it has seen cold weather but that could also be a battery. Have you had the battery and starter tested?

Dec 29, 2003 | 07:44 PM

Banditt

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I had the same problem, I started off by purchasing a new battery, help for a few days, but it started dragging all over again. I just replaced the starter about a year ago, so I decided to change it again, and that ended being the problem.

Hook an Amp meter to the battiery and try to crank it over, if it draws alot of amps, that's more than likely your problem

Dec 30, 2003 | 01:09 PM

drbonestou

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Joined: Jul 2003

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Sounds like starter...
when it does it...try to start holding key to start postion for about 4sec...then get out and see if cable going to starter is very warm... it can be very hot......that works when you dont have a meter handy

if cable is hot..then it is starter 99% of time...
if the cable is cool then it could be dirty cable ..loose...or dirty ground...

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Feb 3, 2004 | 09:37 PM

cougar86

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I just got through my truck going through the same problem. It turns out that I had a bad ground at the engine from the cable that goes directly to the negative post on the battery. I had symptoms which led me to believe the starter had or was going bad or the battery was low. I pulled the starter out and had it checked. It was fine. I also charged the battery for 24 hours. So the battery was good. It got so bad that I could only get it to start when I boosted it from my other car. I always connect the ground to the engine of the vehicle I want to start. On a hunch, I grounded it directly to the battery. I went to start it and it turned over like I had a dead battery. I grounded it to the engine and it started! I shut the truck off and took one jumper cable and connected it to the negative post on the battery and the other end to the engine. Wouldn't you know, it started - no problems. A quick fix was to buy a new cable and run it from the battery to a new spot on the engine. I'm waiting til the spring to route it properly.