This may take a while to describe, and may be somewhat unclear but I will try my best. First off the truck is an 86 F-150 with a 4.9 six cylinder. My problems started about a week or so ago when i hadn't driven the truck for a couple weeks and i went to start it. Dead, Not a big deal, start checking the obvious making sure i didn't leave, lights or other accesories on. Nothing left on so i attempt to jump start it, still can't get it to crank. I decide to take the battery down to advanced auto parts to get it charged and tested(i also took the starter to be bench tested). The battery is an interstate battery i bought in june which i consider to be a pretty good battery. Starter was pulling alot of amps so i figured i would replace it(cheap) as it wasn't sounding to good either. They charge the battery and tell me It needs to be replaced. No big deal as i have warrenty and im thinking the starter may have killed the battery. Get the new battery put it in along with the new starter and start cranking, cranks fine but won't start which im not worried about as it hasn't ran in a few weeks and i know the carb needs to be rebuilt. I continue to pump the petal and try again to start it being careful not to crank for too long. Smell fuel strong and figured i flooded it so i i walk away for a few hours and come back. Now when i tried to start it there is nothing at all, mind you the truck was cranking the strongest i have ever had it crank a couple hours earlier and now all i can hear is the solinoid click a couple times then nothing as the battery goes completely dead. So i start thinking parasitic draw or short. I check the obvious for shorts, pull out the after market radio check the wireing, check the looms for obvious shorts. I found the ground strap that connects from the motor to the firewall too be very loose so i tightened that up and i found a wire going to the emission switches mounted on the valve cover to be split open so i got some tape around that. Tried to start the truck again thinking maybe since the cab wasn't grounded it wouldn't start but still a no go. And finially i put it in nuetral and just tried to connect the post on the starter solinoid but still nothing. My plans are now to get the battery charged and tested. Then start checking for a parasitic draw. I have a multi meter and i know to pull the ground off and put one lead on the - battery terminal and the other on the ground strap, but do i measure voltage or amps. Or should i be doing this test with a test light? Also has anyone else experienced this problem and what were your fixes? Im just looking for ideas here. Anyhthing to help me out or get my mind thinking i would really appreciate.

 

A testlight is much easier to use. If you use the meter, it needs to be in a mode to meassure amps. Most cheap meters do not have this feature. The ones that do, require you to unplug the meter lead and re-insert it in a different port on the meter. I am not sure what the amp reading would be, but it would be very low. There is always a tiny drain on most vehicles.

 

Rossta86

Save yourself alot of troubleshooting time and check the Ground.. Clean them and make sure they are making good contact..

I just ran into this problem with my sons 90 F350.. We were selling it and when he went to show it the thing wouldn't start.. After many hours and 3 starters we went back to the begining and cleaned the ground contact point.. It started right up..

He made the mistake of using the Air conditioning compressor as a ground.. Bad idea because this is aluminum and it was not a clean ground.. It becomes corrode and this will cause a bad ground..

Hope this helps

 

I will go ahead and get the battery checked and charged tomorrow. Franklin2 im guessing you are talking about using the multimeter in an unfused mode in the ammeter setting, which i will try and report back when i get the battery back. donjamer, my ground from the battery to the block is at the stock point at the rear of the block, and my ground from block to cab is also at the stock point. Both are tight, but i will certainly pull them off and make sure it is bare metal on both sides. thanks for the input guys and im sure I will be back with some more information later tomorrow.

 

Well today i went out and fiddled with the truck a little more, The battery has enough power to turn the lights on or play the radio so i decided to do a parasitic draw test. Its pulling very very little amps so im pretty sure thats not my problem. Im going to try and make sure the battery is fully charged and see if it will crank again and then do a voltage drop test. hopefully something will turn up with that. thanks