Bad starters or something else?
 

Some background:

The truck giving me trouble is my 1994 F-150 5.8 auto trans. I've had the truck for about 3 years now. It's occasionally had issues starting, which sometimes seemed like a weak starter or parasitic drain on the battery, but never left me stranded (before a head gasket went out, but I fixed that!) I recently let my wife's co worker borrow it because her Chevy Equinox head gaskets failed. When we first went to give it to her, it wouldn't start. After messing with a bunch of stuff, I narrowed it down to the starter and replaced it with an AutoZone Re-man one. After about 3 weeks, it wouldn't start again. I ended up testing things out (good voltage on battery etc.) and it seemed the replacement starter crapped out on me (starter wouldn't engage when I tried jumping it with a battery, negative to body and positive to large and small terminal). So I got another re-man under warranty, and it started great for two more weeks. Now I have the truck back, but it failed to start again.

What has been replaced:
- Fender mounted relay (with an Autozone brand)
- Battery (as of December of 2020 with a Duracell branded one from Sam's Club)
- Battery terminals (cut out old wiring and spliced in new terminals with about 6" of new thicker gauge wiring on negative side)
- Positive wiring from battery to starter (made my own with some standard battery gauge wire I purchased from O'reilly's and connected it to the new positive battery terminal)
- Signal wire from fender relay to starter

What happens when it won't start:
- Loud click coming from the starter
- With headlights and interior lights on, there is NO DIMMING when trying to start
- Battery voltage reads around 12.75 when it won't start.
- Jumping the new fender relay with a screwdriver results in only sparking and the click

1. Are the Re-man units from parts stores really this bad? I know that electrical components are not a good idea to get (have had tons of problems in the past), but starters and alternators usually haven't given me much trouble. I typically avoid getting parts altogether from parts stores now-a-days, especially for the 7.3 in my Bronco because I've had a lot of bad luck over the years with things, but I didn't think their starters would really give me this many issues.

2. Could there be something that is taking out the starter? The starter system seems very simple and I can't think of what would be taking out starters, especially this fast, but maybe I'm overlooking something?

3. Is there anything else that I'm missing that may replicate this issue? It seems pretty straight forward to me that it's the starter, but I think I read somewhere that a failing ignition switch can sometimes replicate this issue.



Thanks for any input and advice! I've done enough where I didn't think I'd have this much trouble with a starter but when it keeps happening, I feel like I'm missing something.

It sounds like you have the same problem my 93 had.
it turned out to be the cable was grounding out on the frame.. Because every time I moved the cable, The problem went away.
It took some time to finally find where it was grounding out. Every time I messed with the cable it moved away from the frame, so I never saw it grounding out , then one day I saw the bare/ burnt spot on the cable while under the truck.
Some electrical tape as is sever wraps over and over the bare spot, and a length of cable loom, and it was fixed and no issues since..

You're talking about the main power cable that connects to the large lug correct? Or are you talking about the signal cable? I did replace the large one so I don't imagine it's worn through, but it's definitely worth looking into! I replaced part of the signal one as well, but I didn't consider the cables wearing through!

Thanks for the input I'll take a look at that my next day off work! I work pretty long hours but not every day which is nice.

Yes the big main cable.

Might be coincidence with starter failure. If you diddnt replace it, the ground on the passenger side goes down the fenderwell to the frame kinda behind the shock, then ends at a lug at the engine. Both locations are known to corrode and could cause this issue. Poor ground typically makes it turn over slow, and burns out the starter.

It is also generally recommended to change the solenoid when you replace a starter.
It's easy enough to see if there's a parasitic drain on the battery. Put an ammeter in series with the battery. If you've got a reading higher than 0 you've got something going on!

I have this exact same issue right now and it left me stranded. I turn the key and get a hard clunk from the solenoid, but no starter. Its a brand new battery. I took all the terminals off the relay and re-attached them and it fired right up, I drove it home no problem, dead again the morning. I get 12.71 volts at the relay terminals I have a ground that runs from about where the EGR is to the firewall do I need to be checking another ground wire? Not sure if this should also be considered but I did find a very very small bit of corrosion on the ignition wire that goes on the top, 3rd post of the starter relay. I cleaned all my terminals and reattached but still no luck.

Im dead in the water right now so any help at all would be great.

I am leaning towards the signal wire also. I had a very similar problem a few years ago, and fixed it with just a pigtail on the starter end, but maybe your issue is up the line further.

If your issue was the signal wire, any time it wont crank it will crank if you jump the terminal wires with a wrench. This bypasses the entire signal wire system.

If a replacement starter worked for a period of time and failed shortly thereafter AND it was reman, I would take it back and they cant test it and if it is bad, pony up for a NEW one. Failure rate of new parts is high enough and then bringing reman into the picture is like buying lottery tickets. You have a chance but the odds are slim to none on winning. You have nothing to lose by taking it back in for a test. Sandy

Okay so I replaced my negative battery terminal and got a new starter relay, reconnected it and it fired right up drove it around all day yesterday. Go to start it to go to work this morning and its dead again, just the click. I pulled the relay connections off, put them back on, boom fired right up again. Im starting to think the ignition signal wire is not making a good connection and may need to be snipped and replaced with a new fitting. Has anyone else had this issue? What kind of wire end should I get that will prevent corrosion?

I use fluid film on electrical connections to prevent corrosion. It's a sloppy mess if you overdo it but that stuff works and doesn't run or wash off easily, unless it's on something that gets hot.

So after all of that nonsense it was just the rusty signal cable connected to the starter that had worked itself loose. Spliced in a new one and boom, works like a charm.

So I've been dispatching nights and have not had a ton of time. Missile maintenance can drain the life out of you at times! Anyways, the starter seemed to work again randomly, so I figured I'd take it for a test drive across town to help my friend move some couches. I was hearing some weird noise on the way there, but didn't think of much. Then, my truck shut off right before I pulled up to his apartment.

It turns out, it was low on oil and I think that's why it shut off...... yeah, I feel pretty bad on my part for that happening. When you have 4 different vehicles to drive around, the beater tends to get a little neglect... I didn't realize it burned that much oil, but it's overdue for an oilchange.

Anyways, after it shut off, I filled it with oil, cranked the motor over by hand (to make sure I didn't seize anything) and tried starting it again. No luck, so my friend towed it back to my place. I took the starter off and had it tested, and it came out bad. It also smelled pretty weird. I think the sound I heard was the starter getting stuck on, and burning itself up.

Now like I said, I've replaced the battery cables (both positive and negative) with the wiring to the starter as well, and the signal wire from the starter to the solenoid (which is also new). When the starter gives me trouble, it won't jump at the relay, so I don't think the ignition wire is bad.

It may just be a bad coincidence of getting 3 bad starters from Autozone.. I really need to just but a new one. I think if this 4th starter fails on me, I'll see if they can just give me a refund and I'll but a new one on rock-auto since it's significantly cheaper for OEM or other good name brand parts there.