Help!! Won't Start??!!
 

Hello All,

I've got a 93' F-150 4.9L that wouldn't start this morning. My wife drove it yesterday and said it ran fine, but when she went to start it this morning, it wouldn't turn over. According to her (I'm at work right now), the dash lights come on, and she can hear one "click", but that's it. I'm hoping it's just a dead battery (she was unsure whether she left the lights on...that's another story!), but I'm miffed that the dash lights would still come on. Any ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

If it is indeed a starter issue, is that a difficult replacement. Kind of a newbie here.

Thanks in advance!!

It sounds like the battery to me. A new starter is a piece of cake. Two bolts and it's out.

Could be a lot of things but sounds like it could be poor battery connections or poor ground. First things to check anyway.

andy, two bolts plus the elec. connections. hahaha

sometimes those two bolts are a pain, but it is not too hard.

check spade connector first. undo it clean connection and put it back on, if it starts than that was the problem. common ford problem.

Thanks a bunch for the insight, everyone. I really appreciate it. A little bit of an update....

Got home from work, and it started right up. Shut it down. Tried to start it up, and nothing. Well, actually the lights, radio, wipers all worked, but there was just a single "click" from beneath the hood. Did a quick look at the connections and the ground from the negative to the chassis and didn't see anything obvious. Could it still be the battery? I'm kind of at a loss about where to start with the wiring. I was thinking of pulling the starter and the battery and getting them checked out. Ideas??

Thanks again in advance!!

Umm, does that model use the same or similar cable as the '92? The one that splits at the post and one 4/0 goes to the starter relay and the other to the starter? If so, mine let go inside the molded lead clamp at the battery with NO indication of failure. No corrosion, no burning, NOTHING. Identical symptom. Relay would CLICK, Solenoid would THUNK, but no turn. Turned out to be a 'half-bad' cable. Cut the clamp off and replaced with a $2.00 clamp, and bingo, problem solved. This great intuition however did not occur until after I replaced a starter and a perfectly good battery that Advance Auto Parts said was bad, though. '93 model, odds are .....

check the spade connector when it won't start.

take it off than put it back on.

this is what your problem is i bet.

Thanks a bunch for the advice, Old Paint and quicklook. Sorry for the stupid question, but where is the spade connector?

Thank again!!

It's at the end of the black cable that runs down to the starter.