Inline six 300, won't start
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Coats, North Carolina
Inline six 300, won't start
Alright, here's the story on my buddies beloved pile of *****. Love the ford, hate this truck for this one reason.
Truck cranked up at school, drove to his girls' school to pick her up, shut it off and turned back to listen to music. Went to turn it to start to crank up.....nothing. Towed home ,talked to me, told him I'd help him.
It got a new starter relay on the fender Monday before I got there. I replaced the started solenoid on the starter with a used, free, working solenoid. Still.....nothing.
Battery cables are tight and clean. Took the started to autozone to get them to test it. It passed, with the "new solenoid" on it. Battery is good, we've tried jumping, bypassing the relay and bypassing the solenoid.
Also replaced the ignition switch and the lock cylinder.
With the old relay hooked up on the fender, it would click once when you tried to start it, then when you let go of the key it clicked off.
any ideas?
Truck cranked up at school, drove to his girls' school to pick her up, shut it off and turned back to listen to music. Went to turn it to start to crank up.....nothing. Towed home ,talked to me, told him I'd help him.
It got a new starter relay on the fender Monday before I got there. I replaced the started solenoid on the starter with a used, free, working solenoid. Still.....nothing.
Battery cables are tight and clean. Took the started to autozone to get them to test it. It passed, with the "new solenoid" on it. Battery is good, we've tried jumping, bypassing the relay and bypassing the solenoid.
Also replaced the ignition switch and the lock cylinder.
With the old relay hooked up on the fender, it would click once when you tried to start it, then when you let go of the key it clicked off.
any ideas?
Elder User
Joined: Aug 2007
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You said-Battery is good, we've tried jumping, bypassing the relay and bypassing the solenoid. If you did this right bypassing the solenode small post to the 12volt side most of the time it should start.Do you even get a click out of it? Measure the volts at the battery should be 12.6-12.8,check volts at the solenoid with key to start on the small post.I have seen where i though i had a good battery and tryed to jump it and it failed to start because the jumped battery was shorted inside the battery.If you have volts at the starter then you have a ground problem.The neutral switch can be bypassed also.If you dont have a dvm then use a test lite to check volts at the solenoid and starter.
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The solenoid clicks, but the starter does not turn? Check for a bad cable. It is possible to have corrosion inside the insulation & have the cable look fine but not work. Also, check for a dead short in the cable.
And, can you turn the engine over by hand at all or if it's a stick, roll it and turn it that way? Just to make sure something didn't wedge or let go in that department, as unlikely as it might be.
And, can you turn the engine over by hand at all or if it's a stick, roll it and turn it that way? Just to make sure something didn't wedge or let go in that department, as unlikely as it might be.
Thread Starter
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Coats, North Carolina
Alright, I'll try checking the volts at the starter and the battery. It'll have to wait until Sunday though. That's the only thing I could think of is the cables. We still have exceptional power to the headlights and everything else in the truck.
Oh yeah I checked the power at the starter with a test light with the ignition " on". The test light was on at the with the point on the hot wire. I can get a spark when I try bypassing but nothing else. a small spark at that.
Oh yeah I checked the power at the starter with a test light with the ignition " on". The test light was on at the with the point on the hot wire. I can get a spark when I try bypassing but nothing else. a small spark at that.
Elder User
Joined: Aug 2007
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Well if you think you have a good battery then lets move on.Did you see how the guy at the auto parts store checked your starter? This is what you need to try at home.You can do this with jumper cable too.If you can hook one pos lead to the starter wire at the starter.then other to the frame or engine block.It almost sounds like you have a bad solenode.
Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2008
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From: Renton, WA
Start by watching the voltage at the battery while you try to crank it, Does it drop below about 8v if so it's the battery.
If not, it's the connections, it sounds like you've tried all the standard bypasses on the posative side. Check the engine ground, does the negative battery cable attach directly to the motor? If not, connect it, things work best when the negative battery cable is connected to the motor and the ground cable connects the frame and body to the motor. If so, is it tight and clean.
If it still deosn't work time to reconsider the starter. Leave it in the truck and bypass the cables completely. Use some jumper cables and connect the battery posts(not the clamps) both of them. Then to the starter post, ground it by connecting the groung side right to the bellhousing. This will bypass everything but the starter and battery. It better work if not you need a starter.
If not, it's the connections, it sounds like you've tried all the standard bypasses on the posative side. Check the engine ground, does the negative battery cable attach directly to the motor? If not, connect it, things work best when the negative battery cable is connected to the motor and the ground cable connects the frame and body to the motor. If so, is it tight and clean.
If it still deosn't work time to reconsider the starter. Leave it in the truck and bypass the cables completely. Use some jumper cables and connect the battery posts(not the clamps) both of them. Then to the starter post, ground it by connecting the groung side right to the bellhousing. This will bypass everything but the starter and battery. It better work if not you need a starter.
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Elder User
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8 volts or lower can be bad battery.It also can be a bad starter pulling down the battery to 8 volts.Then if it did pull it down you would think you would have some sort of starter movement or smoke.Thread is about good battery,used starter solenoid,new key switch,no nothing when trys to start.
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This all sounds very familiar to my problem last winter. Would get a clicking sound from the relay but no cranky from starter. Mine is a '94' and has some weird relay to starter wiring so couldn't try the ole jumper trick across the relay to get 12v directly to the starter. Even pulled the starter and it tested OK. Finally ended up relacing the starter anyways. Think there must have been a dead spot in the windings or something.
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Senior User
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From: Coats, North Carolina
Now when I had the starter out of the truck, using jumper cables from MY truck, I grounded the neg cable to the base of the starter, and touched the positive to the starter bolt. The gears inside jumped, and kinda rotated, but didn't spin over like it did when Autozone tested it.
Last edited by SpeedRebel09; Oct 31, 2008 at 06:57 AM. Reason: more info