Hi i was bombing around at night in my recently aquired 87 4.9 inline 6 F-150 custom, then hit a good sized pothole and saw a spark come out of the hood on the R/H side , i almost went into the ditch due to very hard steering because it stalled out .I tried starting but it would only run for a second or two then kept repeating and finally it wouldnt even pop .took alook under the hood and found that the battery strap failed and the battery jumped up and contacted the hood(burn mark) bat. post that connects to starter relay made contact only. the truck will run with a bit of ether sprayed into the intake. so the fuel pump is not working , i looked around for the reset switch and found it under the steering column its a little black box with a white press down button ontop any how i pushed it down and tried starting again but nothing .IS THE BUTTON SUPOSED TO CLICK WHEN PUSHED BECAUSE MINE DOSNT AND SHOULD IT BE PUSHED OUT BY AN INTERNAL SPRING? MINE JUST SITS AT THE FULL DOWN POSITION.the box states that it is #1 switch and i could not find another SWITCH around ,ANYHOW i was angry that i could not get it running and i had to walk some 10-12 km to get my dad'S Ford to tow my Ford home . ALSO the fuses by the knee are all good and are there fuses inside those stupid uninspectable fusible links located by the battery? any help will be greatly apprechiated as i would like to drive my once good runnnig truck again .
thanks for all your time .

 

It sounds like you found the inertia switch OK. Do you hear the fuel pumps run for about 3 seconds when you turn the key to on?

You also burned out either a fuse or a fusible link. Take a look at all the wires coming off the starter relay, one or more of them may be burned out.

 

If you seen a spark I would also suspect bad wires near the battery...More than likely the fusible link...And yes they are a pain to get to, they more than likely are in the factory harness ....just be careful if you cut into it not to cut any other wires...
Also make sure you disconnect the battery before any electrical work...

 

i went over the fusible links ,replaced them but still not getting any power to the fuel pump . i took out the inertia switch and it seems to be functioning properly ,Really quite simple looking those switches.

But other than that i am stumped on finding a resolution for this truck of mine.
i am not a fan on electrical ,never was,but if need be i will do my best to find what could be wrong. But what could it be?????? im a little confused now.