marcccc

Hello all

I just bought a 1996 F150 XL with a 4.9L L6. I love the truck and it is in amazingly good shape for its age. Not a speck of rust anywhere on the body. I even have the service records from the 1 original owner. He even took it to the dealership every 3000 miles for an oil change from day one until now. It has 137000 miles on it and runs strong. I have been going through the truck just to check everything and only have one issue I am having a hard time figuring out. It has only happened 3 times. I get in the truck turn the key to run no problem, turn the rest of the way to start andthe starter starts to engage then its like someone popped the negative terminal off the battery. No lights, no radio, no dome light, no nothing. So I jump out pop the hood to check the fuses, terminals, grounds ect. And everything pops on so I figure must be one of the connections. Go home undo all I can find and clean reconnect and tightened. Next day it happens again so as a test I leave the key in the run position and don’t touch anything. 1minute later all comes on and the truck starts right up. So I start researching the Haynes manual. It says ther are circuit breakers that will reset themselves but as far as I can tell I don’t see any that would interupt everything unless I am just not seeing it. Has anyone else had this? If so what did it turn out to be. Trying to find at least a direction to start. Is there a breaker that resets itself that would interupt the main power circuit? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I did search the forums but couldn't find anything that I thought applied.

By the way here is my new baby


Thanks
Marc

|SkidRow|

Had a similar issue whenever I hit the brakes, or turned on my radio or lights everything would cut out for a second or two(all electrical, engine would keep running) it was a loose wire, it was a black wire with an elbow that connected to the voltage regulator( I think that's what it is) located on the passenger side of the engine compartment, it has 4 connections going to and from it, I believe. Plugged it back on and gave it a light squeeze with some needle nose pliers and haven't had a problem since.

Hope that helps

LordVectra

Maybe a bad starter solenoid?...when you turn the key to start does the starter make a click then all the dash goes dark like no power?

D60

I'm gonna vote battery cables or poor ground at the frame. It's very possible for corrosion to be under the insulation and you can't see it. It'll cause the symptoms you describe.

A new positive cable from the battery to the solenoid and a new negative cable from the battery to the frame should be your minimum replacement, but if it's got the factory cable it'll be custom with a lug mid-cable for the framerail and then continuing on to the block. You can just replace with two cables; likely a 24" will get you from the battery to the frame and then a very short one can also go on that same stud on the frame and continue to the block. If it doesn't make sense, it will as soon as you have the old cable off in front of you.

rikard

X2 on the cables or battery terminals being the cause. I was having some minor electrical issues and found some corroded ground wires when I was under the truck running some wires. I also replaceed the ground wire on the radiator support and added one from the engine to the battery. So far my 95s starter cables are good but I had to replace the 94s when the truck would do just as yours was doing. I found corrosion about 8" down on the wire going to the starter. The insulation discolored near the bad spot.
Regards
rikard

RLXXI

x3 Battery cables. Replace both of them.

marcccc

I had checked all the cables but after reading your replies I checked again. When I cut the insulation back further it looks like the wire is corroded some internally. That is just in one spot and I am sure it is worse in other places so I am going to pick up some cable today hopefully replace them some time this week. I am lucky enough to have a company truck so I only usually drive this one on the weekends. I will update after I get that done.

Thanks
Marc

D60

I also just went thru this on an '87 302 so it's fresh in my mind. At O'Reilly the cables are sold in 5" increments, I went with a 15" positive from battery to solenoid. This was really too long, but 10" woulda been cutting it too close. Cable mighta been $5.99. Then I picked up a 25" negative for battery to frame, I think it was $6.99.

If you've got a battery house near you who will custom build cables, all the better because they likely use fine strand welding wire which is oh-so-nice-and-flexible. Plus we all know you technically get better electrical flow with fine strand cable. This place used to be crazy cheap but they recently raised their rates to where the last cable I got cost over $10/ft! Never mind, I'm back to cheap, pre-fab cables from my FLAPS.

Rikard's reply got me thinking about when I replaced the starter on my '95 5.8. The replacement starter (also O'Reilly) had a little pigtail with crimp butt connector and specifically stated it was for a recall or problems with corrosion near the starter. Apparently they felt their pigtail would not corrode, no idea why!

mattbarron94

Nice truck, what kinda tires?

RLXXI

Very common problem with Ford cables, I had one bite my *** for 3 hours trying to figure out what the problem was and like you found inside the sheath of the cable, corrosion. From that day forward I always used a test light to poke the cable in 1 inch increments starting at the battery post. Poke the probe thru the insulation and have someone hit the key, you will find the corroded section when they turn the key and the test light goes out.