russ757

I have a 2004 F150 Supercrew Lariat 4x4 with 111,000 miles on it. It has the 5.4L v8 engine. I have never had any problems starting this truck. A couple of days ago I went to start it and the key turned but there was no "cranking noise" and the engine would not start. Tried the usual jumping and battery related fixes but to no avail. I was in a remote area with no access to tools, so I had the truck towed and it is currently at the shop being looked at on Monday. Is this a typical problem? What do you think it could be? I am not very mechanically inclined but I would assume this problem could be in the ignition system or starter. Any ideas?

Note: The day before I noticed that when going from drive to reverse the truck would go into neutral even though the shifter was on reverse. When I put the truck in park and then down to reverse the truck went into reverse like normal. This seemed to be the beginning of transmission issues. Could this be a problem connected to starting my truck (I.E. truck thinks it is in drive when I am trying to start it even though the shifter is in park or neutral?)

Thank you for your input,
Russ

vintageman

The shifter rod underneath at the transmission has a plastic grommet that is known to decay and when the shift **** is used sometimes does not engage the correct gear. I had a similar problem last year when I would shift out of park to reverse or drive that it would hit neutral instead, I had to kinda play with the shifter nudging it back and forth to get it to engage. Went to autozone and bought the pack of plastic grommets on the accessories isle for about $5 and the one with writing or numbers on it fixed the issue. Better than the $60 or $70 for a new shifter cable.
I would try to move the shifter to neutral or thru the gears to see if it will crank.

Summers22

iTrader: (2)

^^^Yep, he truck wont crank if the transmission is engaged in Reverse instead of Park. Sounds like a bad cable grommet to me as well, especially since you said the shift indicator showed reverse but it was actually in neutral.

russ757

Thank you for your insight

grss429

could also be neutral safety switch

4x4Fun

Not associated with the transmission, but also check the FPDM on the rear axle. It will also give the same "no turnover" issue. It will rot on the side against the axle.

Martian

Did you fix this?

techrep

iTrader: (1)

It's not located on the read axle ... it's mounted under the spare tire to the frame rail.

4x4Fun

Techrep has the correct location! Thanks for the correction Techrep! My memory is the same as it has always been. I don't know what affect age can have on it.

Martian

Age, quite a bit. Alcohol, quite a bit more.