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I have a 1994 F150, was having a hard time starting, randomly needing a jump, and then finally wouldnt start at all, my mind went immediately to the battery (was something like 7 years old) so I went and picked a new one up, cleaned the terminals and installed it andddd It still won't start. When I go to start it the most I get is one "click" and then nothing. When the key is in the ON position lights/radio turn on just fine. I decided to check the solenoid that's mounted there above the battery, I jumped the two screw terminals and I get some aggressive sparking but no starting.
My one attempt to try and figure out if its the starter is by just banging on it from the top with a broom handle but I didn't observe any change.
Just thought I'd post to see if anyone had any other ideas for me or if there's another way for me to identify that its the starter before I take it out.
When you said "and then finally wouldnt start at all," does that mean it wouldn't start, even with a jump? What noise was it making when it wouldn't start with the jump? No crank/no start or did the starter turn over ?
Was the new battery freshly charged up or could it have been sitting for awhile ? If the latter, it may need a charge or try jumping for a first start inside the truck. Is the new battery the correct size (# of cold cranking amps) ? What is the condition of your battery cables?
When you said "and then finally wouldnt start at all," does that mean it wouldn't start, even with a jump? What noise was it making when it wouldn't start with the jump? No crank/no start or did the starter turn over ?
Was the new battery freshly charged up or could it have been sitting for awhile ? If the latter, it may need a charge or try jumping for a first start inside the truck. Is the new battery the correct size (# of cold cranking amps) ? What is the condition of your battery cables?
Honestly once it died again I just immediately went to thinking the old battery was bad, it was still doing that “one click” sound. The new battery is correct, the battery cables themselves are looking aged. I didn’t think about the new battery possibly not having any recent charge. I’m gonna give that a shot and I’m also going to trace the cables back to see how they’re doing before I pick up a new starter
I think I found the culprit, I found this wire actually just dangling, kind of looks like it would be a ground wire but i cant figure out where it goes...
p.s. ignore the oil stains, that's also a recent development i need to look into now
Last edited by Jon Singh; Jun 7, 2020 at 06:38 PM.
Starter issue?
