Ok, my truck has been getting worse and worse at starting. Let me tell ya'll the story as short as I can make it. It started around a year ago. It pretty much gave the symptoms of a bad battery.

Slow to turn over until it would just grind (not enough juice from the battery). So, I bought a new battery. It did fine for 2 months. Perfect. Quick, clean starts EVERY SINGLE TIME. Until the end of those 2 months. I went to crank it one day, nothing different, and it turned over slower than normal.

From then on, it has gotten worse and worse. Thinking I got a dud for a battery, I took it back. They (Autozone) checked it, said it was fine.

Ok, well, it would start in the mornings at first. Let's say I drove it to a store... it seemed that if I would crank it within 5 minutes after I shut it off, it'd crank back up. Well, that got less and less eventful, until it wouldn't ever crank up (turned over too slow... sounded like a dead battery).

Well, someone whom I trust told me it was the starter dragging (FOR SURE). Ok, well, I went out and bought a starter today. Put it on, exact same problem.

BTW, just for clarification, my starting problems are from the starter barely being able to turn over. This is killing me. Besides not being able to leave somewhere without getting jumped off, trying to start my truck is killing my fuel mileage because it's resetting the computer, and not to mention resetting my radio :-P.

What do I need to be checking next? BTW, I have cleaned ALL grounds and connections. Will the solenoid cause a problem like this?

So, so far, I have replaced battery, cleaned all connections, and replaced starter.

I have an odd feeling that it's in my battery. It just seems like it's losing charge while it sits. Even with my cables off. But I don't know.

BTW, the only times it starts now are when I jump it off another car/truck, charge the battery, or have only had it turned off for 15-30 seconds. Anything other than those circumstances, and it can barely turn itself over, and only a time or two at that.

 

No 100% gaurantee this will fix it, but judging by your description it sounds like a bad or sticking solenoid. Maybe tapping it with a hammer will knock it loose? I had a similar issue on my truck and it was the solenoid sticking so it was sucking lots of juice trying to start and killing the battery. Tapping it worked until it finally stuck and I had to buy a new one.

Also just because the starter is new does not mean it is good either. A bad starter will also suck lots of juice and turn over slowly. It might be worthwhile to get that checked to make sure it is good. Just a suggestion, I've just had many many new parts fail on me the last few months.

 

Do you have a digital volt meter? My guess is the cable or connections from bat+ to the solenoid since its resetting the radio.

 

Check the voltmeter(located on the pass side of the fender) its like $10-12, and is an important piece in the starting of a vehicle. Like Bashby said, if you can test the crank load with a voltmeter you can actually see iff there is a draw, which points to slow electrical drain.

 

Well, unfortunately I don't have a volt meter. I had one, but it has disappeared.

I bought a new solenoid (on the fender) today, but have been working on my new cabin all day long. Didn't have any time to slap it on the truck. Gonna do it first thing in the morning and see how it goes, and I'll let ya'll know.

 

The voltmeter is a separate piece next to the solenoid. It is rectangular with the connection on the bottom side. held on by a screw on either side. I found the best way to replace it is to take it off the fender then undo the connection. (easy to break)

 

I put on the new solenoid this morning. Had everything hooked up. Went to start the truck, and when I turned the key, the starter started turning. But, it didn't crank, and when I let off the key the starter kept turning. I had to unplug the battery cable to stop it.

I want to add, this ( Solenoid Switch | 1986 Ford F150 1/2 ton P/U 4WD 8 Cylinders N 5.0L FI | AutoZone.com ) is the solenoid I got. It does not look like my old one. On the directions, it says if the original solenoid has only 3 connections, to only use the S connection and not the I. Anyways, it doesn't matter how I hook it up, it does the same thing. The starter gets stuck on.

So, I hooked my old one back up and everything was back to "normal", as in, same old problem.

What's going on with the new solenoid? Is it the wrong one?

EDIT: I just looked up a 1986 f150 351w, and mine looks like the middle one (http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...140434_1500_0_), except only one smaller connection. That's what my original one looks like.. The one I bought looks like the bottom one.

 

I think I need to take back the one they gave me and get an F490 model version instead of the F492 that they gave me

Still, not even sure of that. There are different model numbers for 1985 and 1986 5.0 EFI's. And 1988 5.0 EFI's have the same part number that an 86 351w calls for, which is the one that looks like what I need. F490.

 

Well, if you cant find one that works, you can always rebuild your old one. That's what I did when I had starter issues. But I always milk the core for as long as I can. I hate giving up my old parts and even try to rebuild them for the next time I need to repair.

 

I believe you mean the "voltage regulator".

Freaksh0w...Make sure you KEEP YOUR OLD SOLENOID!!!!! It sounds like it is not the problem and the new cheap imported ones(non-Motorcraft) are known to be bad right out of the box with the same issue you have, the contacts inside it arc themselves together and keep the starter turning till you pull a battery cable.
It sounds like you may have a drain on the battery or its not charging. You need to pick up a voltmeter, HarborFreight has one for about $8 thats good enough to get the job done, and test your battery. With engine off, you should have a little more than 12v. With engine running, you should have a little more than 14v.
Also, if you don't have a 12v test light, pick one up also, so you can see if you have a drain on the battery. Good Luck.

 

Ok, thanks for the tips. I hooked my old solenoid back up for the meantime.

I definitely need to get a volt meter.

I have a battery charger. It's from wal-mart. It shows "% charge" and volts. Here's something I noticed it showing. You can tell me if it's accurate or not.

I can go out to my truck, with cables ON or OFF of it and my battery will always show a low charge if it isn't or hasn't been running. Usually shows 10-40% and 8-10v. While running, it will show 13.8-14.1v or around that area. (It was just showing 14.7v when cold while running) That makes me think my alternator is ok.

Thinking my battery is bad, I took it to Autozone and they "tested it" and said it's ok. I just find it hard to believe that it's ok. I have never been so puzzled on a simple problem.

Tell me, it was having this problem back last year and early this year. I put a new battery on it and it worked PERFECT for 2 months, then went back to the problems out of no where. What would cause something to do that?

EDIT: Well, I feel that after a battery and starter, that if this battery didn't go bad in 2 months and Autozone's test does happen to rule out that the battery is losing charge, I must have a drain. I just need tools to check which I don't have anymore. Everything gets stolen from me little by little, I think, by either my dad and/or my sister's boyfriend. Sad but true.

 

Thanks TrucksnamedPhil... that is exactly what I was thinking of. I think my running volts was like 9-10 and cranking it was like 12-13 when she ran right. Mind you that was with all my auxiliaries unplugged and putting them back one at a time till I saw a drop. Then I turned my girl off, and watched for the leak while I did the same thing. It was my radar detector and brake stop pedal switch that were both bad & it caused the voltage regulator to give out. Once it was all straight... My girl has run great ever since!

 

How did you find out it was your brake stop pedal switch?

BTW, this problem has just gotten worse. Ok, yesterday I was out playing with it. I was cranking my truck up, then turning it off. I did this about 4 times. On the 5th time, I let off the key a little early, which caused it to turn over between a half and one turn. I tried to crank it again, and it sounded DEAD. Just a weak "wuurr.........wuurrr..........."

I hooked my battery charger up to the battery, and I CAN NOT get the battery to charge. I jumped it off, drove about 10 miles, came back, cut the truck off, waiting 5 seconds, went to crank it back up, and dead again.

If everything else about the truck wasn't so damn good, I'd have already ran the thing into a creek.

 

Get a voltmeter and check battery voltage while cranking.It sould be at least 9.5. Any less you either have a bad battery or your starter is drwing too much current. If that checks out check voltage at the starter (ground the meter to the starter housing). It should be within .5 volt that you got at the battery, but .75 should work. If you have a big difference, check voltage drop. To do this put the leads of the meter on both sides of the curcuit you want to check and read while cranking. For example, you can put one lead on the neg battery terminal and the other on the block, it should read 0 until you crank the eng, then it will show the difference in voltage between the 2 spots. If you get a reading of say ..8v, then try to pinpoint it. Put one lead on the battery post and one on the cable, right next to each other to check the battery connection. It will read 0 until you crank it, then it should read .1v or so when cranking. Repeat the test at both ends of the cable to see if the cable has resistance. It wont work to use an ohm meter on the cable because of the sma;ll amount of current produced by the meter.

 

Voltage Drop Testing Heres an article that might help clarify what I'm talking about.