I went to a fire call early this AM and when I went to leave the station my truck would not start. It acted as if the battery was dead so I put a battery charger on it and the starter just clicked like the battery was low, however the headlights were bright. Also when I turned my key on a bunch of weird stuff happened 1. I could hear the battery charger humming as if there was a big draw on it. 2. My tachometer moves up to 1000 rpm. 3. My radio would not work. 4. It just clicked like the battery was low.

I then just tried to hook the charger to the downstream side of the starter solenoid and the starter would just hum so I touched it to the starter post and the same thing happens. When I took the battery charger off and tried to start it, nothing happens and all of my lights are very dim. If the battery charger is off of it and I try to turn on my radio it blinks on and off every second or so in a regular pattern like it's intermitantly getting power, then when I turn anything else on, the radio goes off compleately.

I wasn't sure where ot post this, since I don't know for sure what the problem is, but I desperatly need help, it is broke down at the fire station and I don't have any other transportation. Any advice would be greatly apreciated.

 

Sorry, I forgot to say that it's a 1987 f-150 with a 300 I-6. Thanks

 

it certainly sounds like either the battery is low or has a bad connection , either on the battery,solenoid,or at the starter it self.
have you tried jump starting the truck from a good known source, like some one else vehicle??
unless the charger Has a High amp boost , I would doubt that it charged long enough

Good luck , keep us informed,

 

I didn't try to jump it from another vehicle but the charger has a starting boost feature. I put the negative from the charger on the negative battery cable and touched the positive to the starter positive bolt itself. Sholdn't this make it at least turn over or is that not enough power?

 

if in fact that the charger actualy can give that much boost
so it would seem ,
still a connection problem.
poor connections are most common, and overlooked ,always check those first , before, replacing anything.
just because they look good/clean is not always true,
make sure they checked for tightness and no corrosion.
then on to further suspected items.

 

I am in college and I helped two people replace their batteries on the same day. The same thing happened as you are describing. I put both batteries in and the car would not even want to try to turn over, but the lights and all the accessories worked fine. Both people took their cars to a shop and one of them had a bad sylonoid and maybe a bad starter but I'm not sure about the starter, and the other person's car needed a tune up. Hope that helps you.

 

How big is this charger.

A Battery Charger with enough "Boost" to start your truck would be so big and heavy that it would need wheels to get around.

Also, How thick are the cables on the charger.

A charger with enough "boost" to start the truck would need cables as thick as the battery cables on the truck.


Most Consumer chargers boast about the "Boost" feature, but they do not provide nearly enough power to start a car.

It sounds to me like the battery is dead. Either it died because something was left on in the truck and you did not charge it long enough before trying to start, Or the battery has gone bad and is not holding a charge anymore.


You can try a couple of things:

1) Leave the charger conected to the battery for about 8 hours to recharge the battery. Start the truck and keep an eye on it for a few days to make sure it doesn't drain the battery again.

2) Jump start the truck and let the motor run for about an hour to recharge the battery. then keep an eye on it for a few days to make sure it doesn't drain the battery again.

 

I'm betting on a bad starter along with bad connections/corroded cables.

When you turn your key to on position with lights on, the lights dim down, and everything goes wacky. This is indicative of an electrical draw (huge) vs a bad battery. Disconnect the starter from the positive terminal (at the starter) then turn the key to on. If the lights DO NOT DIM, the radio doesn't cycle the lights and other weird and wonderful things.........Go get a starter.

When you hooked the charger up directly, the starter should have at least cluncked (drive shoe dropping in to place due to magnetic reaction), but it just hummed. This is an indication of a bad winding in the starter, or a piece has broken loose inside the starter and jammed it.

Then after you can start it, spend some time and make sure all connections are clean and tight, and do voltage drops from there to rule out bad cables.

Larry