Lately when I turn the key I get nothing. Give it a few more twists and "she bangs". Assume it is the solenoid. Do our trucks have the kind of starter where you can just replace the solenoid. Or do I have to do the whole shabang?

1994 F-150xlt 302, auto, 2wd

 

I believe in 94 you can have two solenoids one on the fender and one on the starter. If you have pmgr starter u will have two solenoids.

 

You might try cleaning your battery terminals, that was keeping mine from starting.

The soleniod above the inside of the passenger fender is about $20 from Advance Auto, the one on the starter itself is much more expensive.

 

Just put in new red top Optima battery and cleaned the term. clamps too. I thought I might have had a sulphated battery if anyone has ever had that prob. Which is more likely to go out; the solenoid on the fender or the starter?

 

it's a ford, so probably the more expensive one.

 

Get a new solenoid. My truck eats those things every 10k miles or so. And if I don't replace it, my bat. cables start to melt a little.

 

I've read here that you can bridge the terminals on the fender-mounted soleniod with a patch wire or other means to see if the starter engages. If so the solenoid is good. The key has to be in on/run position, but you don't need to be holding it.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

If it just clicks when you try to start it, it's probably the solenoid. I don't know anything about these fords with two solenoids but if you have one on the fenderwell, just jump across the two big terminals with a pair of pliars or something and if it cranks over the starter is fine and most likely you need a solenoid. It's just a switch to send power to the starter when you hit the key.

 

I dont get the typical "solenoid click" ya know click-click-click-click machine gun style. I get silence. I understand that just because you dont get the ever famous "solenoid click" (caused by the starter trying to engage the starter gear to the fly wheel) doesnt mean it isnt the solenoid. Am I right? The starter itself seems fine as once I get it to crank it starts right up.

BTW: Ford has two solenoids (although one sounds like a switch not a solenoid) for one circuit? Nice.

 

Well, there are a couple of different things that can happen.

The machine gun clicking either means the battery is bad or the cables are corroded. When this happens, here's what's actually happening. Solenoid makes a good connection, draws a lot of power like it's supposed to, the battery or cables can't deliver it, and the voltage drops at the solenoid. It releases. Then the voltage comes back up because there is no draw. The solenoid makes contact again. And it repeats and you get the hammering. The solenoid(s) is likely to be fine in this situation because it's making good enough contact to collapse the power supply to itself.

When you just get one click, it's possible it's a dead battery or cables, but it's likely that the solenoid contacts are bad. Here, you have a good voltage supply to pull the solenoid into place but its internal contacts are bad so they don't make a good connection for the heavy circuit to the starter motor. If you get a situation where you hold the key over, it clicks, and as you're holding it, the voltage at the battery is still nice and high (lights stay bright except for maybe a flicker at the click), it's the solenoid.

Now, Ford has had for a long time a fender mounted RELAY, which a lot of people call the solenoid. This is triggered from the ignition switch on the small top terminal, and when it's triggered it pulls the heavy contacts closed and completes the circuit between the two bigger posts, sending voltage to the starter motor. '91 and earlier starter motors did not have a solenoid on the starter, they have a shoe that would move because of the starter motor field that would pull the bendix drive into the ring gear. '92 and newer had a starter with a separate solenoid that would move the bendix drive into place and had contacts in it too for the starter motor. Here, the fender relay handles much less power because it's only switching trigger power for the starter mounted solenoid. I think this is because they started using gear reduction starters in '92 or something. So '91 and earlier have ONE high current set of contacts on the fender, and '92 and later have TWO sets of contacts, one on the fender and one on the starter on the solenoid body.

So, you need to do some diagnosis. Pull the top small wire off the fender mounted relay. Jump +12v to the terminal. The relay should click. Hold it there and test for voltage on the big terminal on the relay leading to the battery. If no voltage the relay is bad. You're happy, it's about $15 if that. If there is voltage it's the starter solenoid or the wire going between the relay and the starter. You can try jumping +12v directly to the terminal on the starter solenoid, it will take the wire out of the picture. '92 and later starters are always hot on the big + terminal so the starter should turn over. If it doesn't it's definitely the solenoid or starter. I've had fine luck with Napa rebuilds and theyr'e not that expensive.

 

Before you replace anything, clean and tighten the spade connector on the starter solenoid. It gets dirty and corroded and losses connectivity so the starter won't crank. The sad thing is that at the starter relay the terminals are screwed but where it really counts, down at the starter, it's a spade terminal! Ford just can't get it right.