so i have been fixin up my 95 f150 4x4, bit by bit shes coming along. last night after helping some guy that was walking through a puddle and fell into a manhole i locked my keys in the truck with the radio on... no good deed unpunished... it was a little groggy to start, i attributed it to the radio on for so long... but she started up and i drove to a gas station.

after getting gas i tried to turn her over and nothing, no clicks, ticks, bangs or sputters. annoyed and thinking im crafty i turn off every elec device on, radio, head lights, even the dash... and vroom.. she starts.

today i hop in her same thing, after sittng over night she was hessitent to start, but thrid crank she started. then putting around town no problem starting, not once... i figured the charging system finnaly got it back into range. make one last stop at an FTE get together and when i try to leave, nothing... full power in the batt, but still not even a click of the starter...

does this sound like a shot starter relay? (the guy i bought it off said he changed it a few months ago, but they also say spray on hair looks real...) or should i be looking at the starter itself... usualy they make a week of really bad grinding sounds IME...not just one or two hessitations...

any help is appriciated...
mechanicly curious

the guy that had it before me installed a push button ignition under the dash so you have to turn the ignition to run and then push the button... it appears that the button is simply just attatched to each terminal of the realy on the firewall... if this is of any significance.. i checked the wire and they do not seem fried at all...

 

have you tried bypassing the starter selonoid by pulling the starter side cable off the terminal and touching it to the batt. side terminal? If it cranks the selonoid is the problem.

 

Good advice. Or the under dash push button could be jiggered or it could be as simple as cleaning battery posts and wire terminals and checking that grounds are tight.

 

thanks for the tip. i grabbed a piece of jumper wire and touched it to the starter wire and the batt but mayb it wasnt secure enough...

thanks again

 

A piece of jumper wire may not be able to carry enough current. You need heavy guage. Try jumping the posts with a pair of water pump pliers or a large screwdriver if you don't want to remove the cable.

 

How is the guy?
That would be a nasty surprise.

 

they were pumping the water out of a flooded drain and forgot to replace the cover... he was lucky only one leg fell in and all he lost was his phone and viper remote...( replaced by cambodan tire)... they were lucky it wasnt a small child playing in a puddle...

 

Have you checked your battery cables. They tend to gunk up where they clamp to the battery. Dr. Pepper cleans 'em right up once you take them off. Just my $.02.

 

My '89 F250 was giving the exact same symptoms you've described (intermittant starting problems). I tried jump starting it, bypassing the solenoid, etc. One time it left me stranded 6.5 miles up a rural dirt road with my 2 year-old daughter. I had to walk out with her on my shoulders.

It turned out to be just the battery cables. I couldn't even see it until I took the cables completely off -- white corrosion all around the inside connections. Cleaned them up, reconnected them with new red and green felt anti-corrosion washers, and spread vasoline on them to protect against further problems. Since then, the problem never came back.

It's funny ... you hear that all your life (about checking the cables), and you think it can't be something that simple. But every now and then, it is.

Good luck.