Shado364

Yea, sounds pretty definitive. Thanks Aggie*86, and everyone else. I'm glad I found this place.

Wanna Ride

It's likely not the solenoid, its likely not the starter, and it's not necessarily the alternator. The alternator might not be charging the battery, but that's not what's stopping the truck from starting, right now. You're making some textbook mistakes with this issue. Just because the starter and alternator are three years old, doesn't mean they're working properly either. I've seen brand new ones fail, right out of the box.

Look, I don't want to seem inconsiderate, but you can't do nothing, and expect different results. And the first rule of troubleshooting is, and always will be... DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING. When troubleshooting anything, you have to go through the steps (like a simple flow chart) and eliminate each and every possible problem in the path, or direction of the process. You can't 100% do that, until you know the battery voltage. You can hope that other small issues together, can be contributing to the problem, but they just might not be.

I told you earlier that your terminals don't necessarily have to be covered with heavy deposits of corrosion to compromise the connections. You recently also said that the negative terminal was "rusty" and loose. Well, that HAS to be fixed. As I suggested earlier, remove BOTH terminals, and clean the posts and the terminals. Use one of those battery terminal brushes and clean both the terminals and the posts, until they're shiny. I've worked on automobiles and equipment for over 30 years and many times, charging systems were affected by terminals that appeared to be ok, and were corrected with a sixty second cleaning with a simple terminal brush.

After cleaning the terminals and posts, you then reinstall them, and they have to be TIGHT. You don't need to torque them down to hundreds of ft/lb, but they certainly can't "twist back and forth" as you described above. They MUST be tight. Usually a 7/16th wrench (might be metric) or so, is more than enough to correct this. Invest $4 in a brush, and throw it in the glove box when you're done. You may only use it once a year, but it's well worth it. Here's a WalMart link to one:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/16006673?w...616350&veh=sem

Also, invest in a $10 multimeter, and throw it too in the glovebox when you're done. You'll get miles of use from it, it's an investment. Here's a WalMart link to one:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Innova-330...meter/14644665

Not knowing what region you're in, I intentionally sourced both of these items at Walmart, we all know there's one of them in nearly every town. But you can also find them at any of the regional chain auto parts stores (AutoZone, O'Reilly's, Advance, etc) for about the same costs. As long as you have an older vehicle, expect to spend a few bucks to maintain it. Newer vehicles also need maintenance, but not as much, until they get a few miles on them. Everything we've mentioned in this thread, is very basic automotive electrical maintenance and troubleshooting.

It's very possible that just maybe, your truck mightstart, if you clean those terminals and insure they're tight. But that doesn't mean you're done. That's am old battery, that may very well also need to be replaced. And be sure to get that alternator, and entire charging system checked ASAP. That may have contributed to the death of the battery.

Let's recap with some simple bullet points, using the methods I described above, and in my earlier post:
- remove and clean the terminals
- reinstall them, snugly
- check battery voltage with truck not running
- once you get it running, check the voltage again

Remember - doing nothing, will NEVER fix the problem.

After going back and reviewing this reply... can you tell it's Sunday morning, and I have nothing else to do?

Shado364

Wow, I feel like I've been taken to the Principal's office. But seriously, thanks for taking the time.........knowledge is power. I don't really have anyone here to help me in person, that's the main reason I came here. Nothing wrong with learning how to TCB. P.S.- I got some actual cranks today, she almost caught.

Wanna Ride

Didn't mean to sound scolding, just trying to encourage you to learn the proper way.

Do yourself a big favor, and stop cranking it. It will NOT start until you address the problems I described. All you're doing by cranking, is draining what little voltage is still there.

Did you clean and tighten the terminals?

Couple more suggestions:
- Do you have access to a set of jumper cables, or a battery charger?
- Can you take the battery out, to get it to someone else to put it on their charger? Some auto parts stores will let you do this, if you talk nicely to them.

None of my business, but where do you live that's so remote, that there's NO ONE to ask for help? Just trying to help you out of a bad situation.

Can you post a pic of the battery, with the terminals connected?

Shado364

Well, since I can't get an answer as to whether or not I can post a YouTube link, I'll go ahead and do it. Pos. is nice and clean, Neg. looks rusty on here, but it's just the bolt not the post or the clamp that goes around the post....if that makes any sense. After filming the wiggle, I turned the Neg. post to the right and it snugged up. It's not moving now. Did notice however, that the radio is staying on after truck is shut off and key is out, not playing, just the backlight. Probably the culprit all along. Gonna rip that thing out and throw it in the street. You asked where I'm located....about 30 miles west of Chicago. I've only been here about 2 months and no one speaks to anyone here. It's a very hateful situation. I want to get back to Northern Illinois, where I'm from. I could have had at least 4 people help me if I was there. In any case, here's the link for Ritz and giggles. Sorry it's so blurry. I think we can pretty much close this case. Thank you to all that replied.

Wanna Ride

Well, I see a couple contributing factors right away.

You need to ditch those cheap terminals and get some cables that are crimped and provide a positive clamp on the posts. And I've said it before, take the terminals off, and use a terminal brush to clean the posts.

Then, use a wrench and properly tighten the terminals, they should never be that loose, I'm telling you. You're going to continue to have problems until you fix this properly.

Had no idea you were in Illinois, I work in Aurora. I thought you were out in the middle of Montana or something from the way you talked. Would you like some help fixing this?

Shado364

Well I do declare Mr. Ride, do you make a habit of picking up damsels in distress on the F150 Forum? I'm just kiddin' with ya. I think the horses in Montana would be friendlier than most of the people here in Wheaton. No offense, Wheaton members. Actually, a very special guy came by today and helped me with my dilemma. He gave me a next to new battery, replaced the cable ends and gave everything else a once over. I was surprised and very grateful, as I am for your offer of help and everyone else's contributions to my silly little problem. Red is running fine now, hoping she stays healthy as the temps here are getting ready to drop again. Keep it warm out there, gimme a shout sometime.

Wanna Ride

Good to hear you're back up and running. Didn't realize you were a female, mostly just guys around here!

Anyways, sometimes it's the simple things that give us problems. Drive safe!