kaidotech

Okay, this problem is starting to put me in the poor house and I cant afford to take it to the dealership and let them spend 3 hours at $60 an hour to try and find what the problem is. I've replaced my starter, solenoid on the passenger fender, my battery, my alternator, my battery terminals and cleaned the wires a bit trying to fix it.

Vehicle specs: 1995 F-150, 5.0L, 2WD, automatic, single cab flareside

Here is the usual scenario for the problem: I get in the truck, turn the key, all the lights come on and the fuelpump starts up, then I turn the key and hear a loud "CLICK" coming from the engine bay, then all the lights go off. No door open lights, no dash lights, nothing. Truck wont start. Sometimes I get in and it starts up fine. I drove from Houston to Galveston and back yesterday with no issue starting.

I went outside tonight and tried to start it and it did this again. I check all my fuses, my terminals, all good. I unhooked my positive battery terminal and knocked it against the post a few times until it sparked and my lights came back on in the cab with the door open. I hopped back inside and the truck's fuel pump came on, turned the key and all the lights went back off with no start. I got back out, tried to wiggle the positive again but nothing. I disconnected the negative this time and hit it against its terminal and the lights came back on, but no start all over again. I gave up and came in to post this.

I'm so frustrated with the truck Im about ready to just drop it off at a junkyard. The truck has 245,000 miles and never had any problems before. I know things dont last forever but these electrical demons in it are driving me insane. It's left me stranded several times now and I'm running out of ideas to fix it. It's about to cost me my job since several times I've had to call in and cant get to work.

kaidotech

I will also add that the engine is getting plenty of fuel and spark, so those two things should be eliminated from the trouble shooting.

mike96

did you check the battery cables down at the starter? If they are loose it will cause the same problems.

Ryan324

I had ur same problem, I had corrosion inside the insulation of my wires, I replaced the harness that included all the ground wires, and all hot wires from the battary to the solonide, and down to the starter, $140 from ford, not a problem since, only about an hour for me to put in.

kaidotech

Thanks for the replies guys. No the cables arent loose to the starter since I got under there and replaced it the other day and know for a fact they are tight.

My next step was replacing the positive and negative battery cables entirely, or having someone do it because I have limited tools and no experience with the electrical system.

Any clue how much having a shop or Ford dealer replace my entire wiring harness and all the grounds would be?

Ryan324

no idea what it would cost at a shop I did it my self, was not hard for me at all, the harness is about $140

kaidotech

Im going online and seeing fuel injector wiring harnesses and large 20 cable harnesses from a company called painless... looks like they're about $500. What exactly do I search for when trying to find the power harness alone?

kaidotech

Update!

Kept wiggling the neg terminal today and getting the lights to come on only to have the truck click and all the lights go off when I tried to start it. I finally opened the neg terminal, squeezed the cables together, put them back in farther and tightened the neg terminal's cable clamp down super tight. Truck started right up.

Does this mean it is still a ground problem?

Ryan324

probably the corrosion problem I was talking about, I poored diet coke on my terminals to make my truck start, the coke eats away the corrosion, and the harness you need is only made now by ford

kaidotech

I really appreciate the help man This is why I like other Ford drivers, always willing to help. I pulled over the other day to help this guy who's truck died, just needed a jumpstart. He was so happy someone stopped.

I'm going to replace the neg battery cable, and clean up all the grounds with a a wire brush, should do the trick - along with some gold-plated battery terminals and anti-corrosion spray.