Hello, lifelong ford owner with a frustrating starter problem. 2020 f-150 XL with the auto stop start function.

Whenever I attempt to start my truck after a drive > 15 minutes, it will not start the first try but does the 2nd or 3rd. It does not do this at start of day or other times, just after running for a bit and when the engine is warm and hot. So on my long work trips or boat trips, I stop to get gas and it will not immediately start up and barely turns over first try. its frustrating to feel like at any time the truck wont start, It has never failed 100% and usually starts on try 2 or 3 but its been a year or so and still does it. I assumed it was the auto start stop thing so I tried disabling and not disabling on long trips and its still the same issue. Any help is appreciated.

essentially, the truck is hard to start when warm on the 1st try and never like that any other time

 

Are you still on the factory battery? If so, five years is about the time to start thinking about replacing the battery.

 

Battery cables, connections, low battery state of charge.
Starter might be overheated from the exhaust. Starter and/or a heat proof cover may solve the issue
At shut-down, the heat is max. in that area from lack of moving air flow and hot engine air escaping in that area.
This has been reported by others.
.
Auto start has nothing to do with it under manual starting conditions.
Auto stop / start is a totally seperate and complex operating chain, has its own failure codeing due to many sources of possible failure in that system, making it possible for you to do manual starting without it in play, except for the above basic starter circuit needs.
Good luck.

 

1.5 year old battery....all checks out

 

I'm going to guess you have the 5.0? I have a 2018, and have the same issues. I have concluded its a heat soak issues on the starter. If you look where the starter is mounted, it is right under the exhaust manifold on the right side. The manifold heats the starter up, then it doesn't want to turn, in another words, draw too much current that the battery can't provide. I did change the starter a couple months ago, and it did help for a little while, but now it's basically doing the same thing. And when I tow my camper, it's even more of an issue, since towing generates more heat. I am going to try some kind of insulation blanket to cut down on the heat transfer. About all you can do is either not shut the truck off, or pop the hood to help with the cool down. I do carry a jump box just in case, and BTW, my battery is only 2 years old, so it's not that. I also have a side theory that the front shutters close and aggrevate this condition, not letting the heat escape fast enough.

 

Thank you, your conditions sound the same as mine....Im going to replace the starter. I checked today after towing the boat and was still piping hot after 20 minutes