I have a 96 F-150 that I have not started in three years. I put a new battery, terminal connections and had the starter checked out. It just barely turns over when I try to start it. I did notice that the negative lead gets pretty hot after a few turns of the key. I checked and cleaned both positive and negative connections to the starter and block/chassis. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Why in the 2009 section??



To help, I would check connections at the solonoid to make sure you have a good contact there. Has the wiring been changed since stock? You may want to consider a larger wire to reduce resistance..

Dan

 

A lot can happen to a vehicle when it sits for 3 years....from rodents to rust.
Hard to say what the problem is...without more info.
Always post as much info when you want help to diagnose a problem.
It will go a long way in helping you to get good responses from the other members here.

 

having 2 threads at the same time on the same subject wastes everyones time.

 

In the same forum to boot...
I agree...
That will not help you get a faster answer.
I can see bumping your thread if it went unanswered, but to start a new thread?????

 

In the same forum to boot...
I agree...
That will not help you get a faster answer.
I can see bumping your thread if it went unanswered, but to start a new thread?????
In fact I think it will impede your search for answers....and some may not respond at all.

 

The first thing I would suggest is to remove the battery connections and clean them with a good battery brush. When the cables are getting that hot they seem to be telling you where the problem is. I"ve had connections get corroded and when I tried to start the truck, the connectors get super hot. Cleaned the connectors and problem solved.

 

I think the first thing I would do is pull the plugs and put a wrench on the crank pulley and see how easily the engine turns over.

 

put a new ground wire on it

 

That and if it turns fairly easy (no ten foot pipe on the wrench), leave the plugs out and squirt a little oil in the cylinders and see if it frees it up any, if so squirt some more oil in there and hit the starter, turn it over for a few seconds for a total time of a minute or so, that should scrape most of the rust off the cylinder walls....

At least this will rule out rusted cylinder walls.... and if it has sat for three years and a valve was open I would bet on rust!!!!!

 

3 things I was curious about...

1. If this engine sat for 3 years, has the oil been changed, prior to cranking it over for the 1st time?

2. If the oil wasn't changed, what weight oil was in it before? Hopefully nothing more than 10w-30, over 3 years, that has absorbed moisture, oxidized from prior combustion 3 years ago. Even the lightest oil can impede lubrication, when it's contiminated.

3. Not sure, but when my alternator had bad diodes, it would get the batt. connections very hot...May not apply to the neg. batt. cable or terminal post..

Do what White 97 xlt and Lazy K have advised. Have also heard using Marvel Mystery oil or PB blaster squirted into the plugs holes, and then letting them sit. If the Piston walls have rusted, then you will have luck letting the oil sit and seep in the head to free them, and lubricate the wall since it hasn't seen oil pumped in 3 years.

If you can find a hex tool, then you can get a electric drill and fabricate an extenstion to connect to the oil pump shaft and prime the oil pump, I wouldn't skimp on oil either. If you are trying to crank this engine with the oil that was in it 3 years ago, it prolly had moisture and other contiminates in it.

Priming the oil pump also helped to push oil up thru the head and into the galleries, where there is likely more contiminates, and no oily film after 3 years of no lubrication.

and the 300's also have larger oil passages I believe from what I have read on this site, so being meticulos is key here. Don't wanna damage the engine after such a long sitting.

Best of luck, and Hope it gets running for you!

 

Thanks for all the help. Sorry about the double post as I am new and I didn't realize that I had originally posted this in the 2009 section. I asked the admins to remove it as I was going to post it in the 1996 section and maybe they just moved it, hence the double post.

 

After noticing the comment about the 2009 section, I figured that was the case but the edit button disappears rather quickly...and somehow, I ended up double posting,...sooooo

Have you had any luck with the truck?

 

I got new plugs and some Marvel Mystery Oil last week before the long weekend and hope to get to it today. Rained here in Houston this morning for the first time in a couple of months, so it will probably be this afternoon when it dries up a little. I'll let it sit a couple more days to loosen any sludge in the cylanders before I try to crank it again. I'll keep everyone posted with the trial and errors.

 

I hope things work out for you...