Starter problem
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 5
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Starter problem
Hello all, first time poster here. I'm having a starter problem that many others here seem to be having as well.
The advice given in the other threads were helpful, but havent been able to fix my problem.
I have a 95 F150 eddie bauer with a 4.9L and manual trans. I had it a since '05 but its been sitting for about 18 months.
Since the day I bought it, occasionally when I go to start it, it would click a couple of times before turning over. It would
always turn over though by the 5th try when it was my daily driver, so I thought it might have been a fault clutch switch since pumping the clutch
a few times usually did the trick. I'm pretty sure now it was just coincidence. Well I bought a brand new battery and as usual it wouldn't turn over. All I got was the usual click. I tried about 25-30 times before I gave up. Not a single crank.
I disconnected the small red wire at the fender solenenoid(or whatever that block is) and shorted the two large terminals with a screwdriver. Just a click. Nothing at the starter, just clicking from that block on the fender.
I looked under the truck and there was alot corrosion on the undercarriage and the starter was flaking all its paint off and the small wire for the switch(not battery cable) didn't look so good. It had exposed wire above the plastic connector that was mostly green. I pulled the starter out and took it to my local Autozone to test it. They said it turned over in the tester, but it was pretty noisy on the second test probably from bad bearings. I bought a rebuilt one from them and was hoping that perhaps the bearings were seized when it was on the vehicle resulting in not turning over from my truck's current. Upon opening the box on the new starter, there was a service bulletin in there explaining how there is a common issue on many f150s with corrosion on the starter wire resulting in a no cranking situation. The new starter didnt even have the stock blade to accept the old connector, instead it supplied a new ring terminal on 8in of new wire with a crimp connector and shrink tubing that was connected to a stud terminal(the OE starter only had a blade terminal) I thought "This has to be the issue" so I cut 6 inches off the end of the starter wire to spice the new wire to. The cut wirelooked like new so I spliced the new wire to it, I wire brushed both battery cable terminals that connected to the starter as well.
I finished installing and went to start it.... CLICK once, Click twice, then it started! I ran it for about 20 minutes before shutting it off. I started it up again(hot) and it turned right over.
Seems to be cranking for now, but since the first two tries were clicks, its obviously not 100% yet.
Reading through these threads, there seems to be alot of this issue especially since the rebuilt starter had a fix to the original design.
My gut feeling is there is more corrosion somewhere else. Any suggestions? Should I replace that fender block terminal? Is that a part I can get from a part store?
The advice given in the other threads were helpful, but havent been able to fix my problem.
I have a 95 F150 eddie bauer with a 4.9L and manual trans. I had it a since '05 but its been sitting for about 18 months.
Since the day I bought it, occasionally when I go to start it, it would click a couple of times before turning over. It would
always turn over though by the 5th try when it was my daily driver, so I thought it might have been a fault clutch switch since pumping the clutch
a few times usually did the trick. I'm pretty sure now it was just coincidence. Well I bought a brand new battery and as usual it wouldn't turn over. All I got was the usual click. I tried about 25-30 times before I gave up. Not a single crank.
I disconnected the small red wire at the fender solenenoid(or whatever that block is) and shorted the two large terminals with a screwdriver. Just a click. Nothing at the starter, just clicking from that block on the fender.
I looked under the truck and there was alot corrosion on the undercarriage and the starter was flaking all its paint off and the small wire for the switch(not battery cable) didn't look so good. It had exposed wire above the plastic connector that was mostly green. I pulled the starter out and took it to my local Autozone to test it. They said it turned over in the tester, but it was pretty noisy on the second test probably from bad bearings. I bought a rebuilt one from them and was hoping that perhaps the bearings were seized when it was on the vehicle resulting in not turning over from my truck's current. Upon opening the box on the new starter, there was a service bulletin in there explaining how there is a common issue on many f150s with corrosion on the starter wire resulting in a no cranking situation. The new starter didnt even have the stock blade to accept the old connector, instead it supplied a new ring terminal on 8in of new wire with a crimp connector and shrink tubing that was connected to a stud terminal(the OE starter only had a blade terminal) I thought "This has to be the issue" so I cut 6 inches off the end of the starter wire to spice the new wire to. The cut wirelooked like new so I spliced the new wire to it, I wire brushed both battery cable terminals that connected to the starter as well.
I finished installing and went to start it.... CLICK once, Click twice, then it started! I ran it for about 20 minutes before shutting it off. I started it up again(hot) and it turned right over.
Seems to be cranking for now, but since the first two tries were clicks, its obviously not 100% yet.
Reading through these threads, there seems to be alot of this issue especially since the rebuilt starter had a fix to the original design.
My gut feeling is there is more corrosion somewhere else. Any suggestions? Should I replace that fender block terminal? Is that a part I can get from a part store?
WOOF
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 790
Likes: 0
From: San Antonio, TX
i had the same problem. if i wiggled a ground cable the right way it would start. replaced all 3 like sean said (even though the positive to the solenoid looked ok) and now it starts stronger. the spliced off cable from the battery to the frame then to the starter was really bad. replaced it with 2 separate cables. all is well
Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
The factory cables on my '92 developed an internal fault around the battery clamp that was hard to trace, as one of the two cables still carried voltage at the other end - sometimes they both did, but it was very weak - showed voltage, but nothing under load.
Replace the battery clamps or cables if there's any doubt.
Replace the battery clamps or cables if there's any doubt.
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
It's not the battery cables.
I was recently experiencing the same problem with my 1995 Eddie Bauer F-150, same specs. I first thought it was a starter solenoid, which is part of the starter unit. The starter appeared to be in pretty rough shape so I just replaced the whole starter. The problem continued. I then noticed that if the starter didn't engage, simply re-applying the clutch usually seemed to solve the problem. That sounded like a faulty clutch switch. I replaced that. No dice. Today I discovered that there are actually 2 starter solenoids: one on the starter and the other immediately next to the battery. I replaced the 2nd starter solenoid and she fires right up every time. Hope this helps.
*note*
@Klink, that "terminal block on the fender" is the starter solenoid, available for about 30 dollars.
*note*
@Klink, that "terminal block on the fender" is the starter solenoid, available for about 30 dollars.
Last edited by rriskjr; Apr 25, 2011 at 05:27 PM.