Will Not Start

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Jul 23, 2004 | 09:19 AM

Laddsmith

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Will Not Start

1988 F250 will not start when key is turned. Started fine last week and drove it a few miles. Shut it off and then it would not start. Dash lights all come on. Battery, starter and alternator check out ok. Fuses all look good. Replaced the solenoid but no help. Jump start from starter to battery gets it started. Positive battery cable to starter has insulation burned off by exhaust manifold. Installed new wire but no help. Did the bare wire short something else out? What else can I try?

Jul 23, 2004 | 10:37 AM

FghtinIrshNvrDie

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From: Pleasant Hill, MO

I know it sounds dumb, but your battery is probably bad. Your battery cell probably leaked. Same thing happened to me. It's decieving because some of your accesories still work. I would replace the battery... What made mine go out was a very loose connection, due to a broken connector on my negative termial. The power, charging, and using of power was too eratic, so it fried the battery. Good luck!

P.S. Another sign that it may be your battery is if it smells like poo under your hood.

Jul 23, 2004 | 11:26 AM

Laddsmith

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Thanks for the quick reply. I have the smell you mentioned but if my battery is bad why does it crankover and start when I jump the starter directly to the positive battery terminal? I will check the neg battery connections too.

Jul 23, 2004 | 11:39 AM

Crazz

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switch

My 90 f150 did the same thing, the guy that had it before me had to put a starter button in the dash, ive heard a few years of the fords something in the colum breaks, it will turn all the accesserys on dash lights and so on but will not start the vechile, im looking in to seeing how much its gonna cost me to out mine back the way its supposed to be i dont like useing a push button to crank it over,
this may not be whats wrong with yours but i would check into it, it happens to alot of these trucks
Good luck

Jul 23, 2004 | 11:42 AM

Crazz

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switch

The ford dealer here says its a real pain to fix the colum, if anyone knows please post, id like to get mine fixxed soon

Last edited by Crazz; Jul 23, 2004 at 11:45 AM. Reason: typo's

Jul 23, 2004 | 12:37 PM

iamaguy1357

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Check the fuses, and look for any burnt out fuses with a light tester, or just go thru each one. Then if thats all good, check for any loose grounds or any wires tangled up and touching, and make shure every wire is plugged in.