I jumped in my 1988 F-150 302 after driving it to campus today. I turned the key and none of the lights on the dash or anything lit up. The truck did nothing when trying to start. Hooked up jumper cables and had power inside. The dash lights lit up and it would only make a loud, continuous clicking noise when trying to start it. After letting the battery charge for about a half hour I took them off and again...no dash lights. Nothing would work. When hooking up and unhooking the jumper cables I noticed a small black box near the air filter with a few wires running into it would make a single click noise. This would happen when hooking up and then again when unhooking. Please help soon....

 

Take the wire connections off the battery and clean them and the battery posts. Replace, making sure they are tight. See if that helps. Good luck.

 

Yes, I agree. It sounds like a battery cable problem. You could also have a completely flat battery. Clean all the battery cable connections and have the battery tested. Most parts stores will test them for free.

 

that clicking sound i s your selenoid, have it checked as well just in case.

 

I am an idiot. I agree and usually this would be the first thing I would check but I had recently just put new connections on the end of my battery cables to my battery and didn't think that would be the problem... That was the problem.