Hi,
I have a 98 F250 5.4 that just started an intermittant- no start problem.
The truck has a new alternator and battery tested good with a full charge. I Parked the truck, then went to start in again and heard click click dead, nothing. The were some noises under the middle of the dash board may be something electronic winding down, no sure what, relays?
The click click didn't sound like the starter trying to engage.
Maybe the solenoid. My dome light is dim and no power to apply the horn. I tied the ignition switch again nothing, no sounds or clicks of any kind. I try jumping the solenoid, that engaged for a second. I tried jumping the solenoid again nothing no engagment.
Battery is still at 12.7v. Cables are clean and tight.
Could this be the ignition switch on the column???

Thanks,

 

Put your meter on the battery terminals, and then try to start the truck. See if it holds at 12v or drops down some some low value. If it drops low, your battery is low. You can't check the battery without a load on it.

If it stays at 12v, move your + meter lead to one of the large solenoid wires, leave the - meter lead on the - of the battery, and then try to start the truck again. If it drops low, you have a bad battery cable or a dirty battery cable connection.

 

Hey Dave,
Ok i just tried it again by your instructions. Battery was at 12.67v and droped to 12.58v. I got some action from the solenoid so i'm pretty sure its not that. I put a charger on the battery and turned it to start charge mode. Tried to start the truck again, solenoid worked again the i heard a slight pop and the dash lighting went dark. Waited another minute and i was able to engage the solenoid. That was weird. Some kind of overload relay? There wasn't enough battery juice to turn the starter yet. I'll try it tomorrow after being on the charger. I think i'm going to take off the +/- cable and peel back the plastic to check for intenal corosion. I guess i can just do a ohm check on them, right. what should a reading be around for a battery cable? The battery is a year old and i had sears test it. They said it was still good. My bet will be the cables.

thanks.

 

That's a good reading.

That popping noise sounds like a loose connection somewhere. It's like a small welder arcing.
It's hard to measure the resistance with a regular ohmmeter. It doesn't take but a ohm or two to make it fail. The best way is to put the meter downstream, and then try to crank it. For instance the starter. If you put the meter on the starter, you should get close to 12v while cranking. If you don't, then you know you have a connection problem upstream in the wiring.

It can also be a poor ground going from the battery to the engine block.

 

Most likely, you have a bad battery cable or connection.

Get an assistant to turn the key and a digital voltmeter.

Connect a digital voltmeter across what should be a solid, direct connection and watch the meter while the starter is engaged. A faulty connection or cable will show a voltage reading greater than 1/4 volt, even up to the bulk of the battery voltage. A good connection will show less than 1/4 volt of drop.

Typical testing points are:

Battery negative post to engine block
Battery positive post to starter relay
etc

 

Yep
you where correct. It was a bad ground cable to the frame