Had difficulty starting my 2001 F250 today. I inserted the ignition key, turned it, waited for the "wait to start" light to go off, then turned key to start the truck. When I attempted to start the truck, it turned over fine, engine sounded good, but it was like there was no "catch". Engine just kept turning over. Also, there was a buzzing type sound coming from somewhere to the right of the steering column. I've never heard the noise before...? It stopped as soon as I returned the key to the normal position. ???? I waited a minute or so and tried to start the truck again, worked like it should and everything was fine. Drove the truck 2 other times today and it started without issue.

Guess I have 3 questions...

1) cause for trouble starting? (glow plugs maybe??? just a shot in the dark)

2) what is the noise and where did it come from???

3) on the dash to the right of the steering column are 3 little vent type holes or slates in the dash... what are they all about?

THANKS!!!!

 

1) How cold was it outside when this happened?

2) The right of the steering column inside the cab, like under the radio, or under the hood?

3) I've got no friggin idea, but I have the slots on my 02. My wife doesn't have them on her 01.

 

This thread could get interesting, specially when peeps like F 350 git baffled

 

2)Does it have an aftermarket radio?If so,many of them have a beeping sound when you shut the key off.
3)My truck has the same vents and there is nothing behind them.

 

Your batteries are bad. I have had that happen before. This happened to me 2 days ago. I am going tomorrow to get new batteeries.

 

I'll look into the batteries....

1) it was about 50 outside
2)noise comes from inside the cab.... sounds like its in the dash right next to the steering column??? It DOES have an aftermarket stereo in it... but it wasn't a beeping... it was like an electric buzzer type of noise... didn't come from the stereo area
3) still wondering about the slots... who knows???

 

Had the same thing happen to me. The buzz in dash is a relay, not sure which one though. Unhooked both batteries, load tested them, and sure enough, one was bad. The other one was strong as could be. Bought some new ones at Costco ($72 ea., 3 year replacement, 850cca), turns over quick now!

 

Low voltage on the batteries will cause the relays not to pull in completly thus causing the chattering. Change out your batteries and you'll be all set

 

Please remember to change both batteries out as one battery will be doing the work of almost two batteries (if you have a bad battery) thus causing it to fail faster on top of the fact that the good battery has been keeping the bad battery topped off as best it can thus meaning a consistent load on the good battery whether it be minuet or not.
To avoid damage to your new battery change them both.
If you only change one and the one old battery goes bad or was bad but didn't show damage while under the hood then the good battery will now be taking up the slack of the bad battery once again thus causing a chain reaction until you change them both.
It's expensive and it sucks but better safe then sorry.

I myself have had bad luck with batteries and alternators in the past so as a rule of thumb for myself, if I have a bad battery and I don't catch it soon enough I'll rebuild or replace the alternator as sometimes bad batteries can put a consistent load on the alternator and cause premature failure thus sometimes causing a chain reaction between the alternator and the batteries.

You can try to watch out for this by keeping an eye on the voltage of the vehicle. The voltage of the vehicle can tell you the health of your batteries and alternator. I'll get to this more in a bit......

Basically.......
Battery goes bad and damages second battery.
First battery replaced
Second battery goes bad (or was bad but didn't show symptoms) first battery takes up slack and alternator tries to keep charging thus over working the alternator and damaging it.
Second battery replaced and first battery damaged, second battery takes up slack of newly replaced but damaged first battery and/or alternator does not charge batteries correctly and causes more damage....

You get the idea and also keep in mind that this won't happen in just a couple days or a couple weeks but could take months. I have had this happen to me and it sucks. So as a rule of thumb in this situation. Pay for the batteries now or pay for them later.

At the very least replace them both at the same time. Think of them as one big cell sitting on two different sides of the truck. If you're going to replace one cell replace them both and save the headache and don't get stranded.

Now, to the voltage and correct me if I'm wrong but this is basically how it goes (Basically)

Start the vehicle and voltage should not drop below 10v on a normal day (50F or more). This is during the crank time

During idle you should see approximately 14v or a little more than. This is the alternator charging the batteries.

Later down the road it should drop the voltage down a little bit. Approximately 13.8v or there about. At this time the batteries are charged and the vehicle is running off the alternator only.

If you EVER see 12v or less during the time that the vehicle is running then your alternator needs to be serviced. If this is left unattended then you WILL damage your batteries as they will be getting intermittent charges or no charge at all meaning that the vehicle is running mostly on battery power.
Also draining a battery down to almost nothing can damage a battery and will shorten it's life span.

Now I'm not a expert on batteries but I am posting this to try to save others the troubles that I have experienced and to try to educate with what little knowledge I have.

 

^^^ Great post and great new addition to the forum. Reps sent.

 

I agree with Jason.

Good post. Glad to have you with us.

 

You may not be an expert, but you are right in this case.

 

1) Visseroth answered this.

2) If it's to the right of the steering column, then it may be your "flasher" cap is what I think it's called. Its what makes your turn signals do what they do. If it's below the hood, I'm still trying to figure that one out myself.

3) You probably don't see it, but there may or may not be a microphone somewhere behind those slots. That microphone is for your speed sensitive volume. That's how the radio knows when to turn the volume up or down when the speed volume feature is enabled. It turns the volume up or down based on the ambient noise around you. (i.e. headwind on the freeway)

 

I was having the same prob. and checked the batts with a pyro. as well as metered and load tested, both fine........sum beech, forgot that starters also can go bad after 10 years if not sooner

 

UMMM wonder do I need a starter 148,000 miles and 8 years.

Nope,, still cranking, but it does make a funny noise.