I have a 1988 F150, 6 cyl 306 V6, Custom. I bought the truck a few days ago, and it needed a jump to get it home, so, I hopped in the cab and told my friend to pop the cables on, but the guy before us had replaced the ground cable to the battery with a red cable and not marked it, so my friend put the clamps on backwards. I cranked it up, and smoke starting pouring out of the wire running from the solonoid. I shut it down and pulled the key out, and the wire, ( not the postive from the battery) had snapped, so I did a temporay splice and soder on it. It started for a few days normally, then one morning I went out to crank it up and nothing. The battery was dead. the battery tested good after charging, however, but I bought a new one anyway. The next morning, that battery was dead too. Now the truck won't start at all, charged battery or not. The lights still come on, but they are very dim. Help?

 

your starter relay/solenoid is fried.

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the truck started when jumped after that, and after the splicing. but now it wont.