My 06 5.4 will not start. When you turn the key there is not even a click. The battery is good. I checked the starter relay, swapped with other relays, and fine. With the fuse cover off I can hear the relay kick in when I turn the key. Had it towed to a local shop and they said it wasn't the starter, but the wiring. They said they checked the wiring as far as they could with their equipment and could not find anything. He suggested I have it taken to the dealer.
About a week before this I went to start it one morning and it ground 'like' when you try to start it while the motor is running. It then started fine. The mechanic I took it to is a good guy and has done a bit of work for me, but does not seem to be the best troubleshooter.
Any thoughts would be very much appreciated as I really don't want to take it to the dealership.

 

Doesn't these trucks have a neutral and park interlock. This would stop key start conditions.

 

If the relay clicks then it should be sending power to the starter solenoid trigger wire unless one of the heavier fuses is blown. Remove the relay one terminal should be hot at all times. Next get someone to crank it over and see if it is sending the power to activate the relay. Once you have verified that you want to disconnect the trigger wire off the start solenoid see if that powers up in the start position. If the shop could not diagnose that much don't go back there.

 

when i bought mine, about 4 months later it started acting up. started fine, nothing out of the ordinary, then suddenly i stop for gas after starting it about 6 times that day, get in after paying... nothing.

towed home, unloaded from tow truck, my dad asked what was wrong, i went in to turn key and it started... so i figured bad wiring, replaced the wires to and from. next week after, did it again, after work it wouldnt start again to go home. towed again, pissed at this point i took the a wrench and tried jumping it though it didnt crank. was gonna buy a new starter, took it off and figured why not take a look inside if its trash already.

brushes blew up inside. cracked apart and contacted the motor for about 1/10th of the brush width. stole brushes from my 98' with same engine and 2 year old starter and it was fine ever since (been 5 months now trouble free)

just my input and experience with what you described

 

Agreed. A multimeter can diagnose the wiring. I hope they at least have a cheap one from the dollar store.
Check the battery and the cables for corrosion. Make sure you're getting 12v to the starter. Then check the solenoid signal wire for 12v when the key is turned.
If you're getting power to the starter, and the solenoid signal, but it won't start, then you need a new starter. Given that it sounded like it was grinding, you probably need a new starter.
If you're not getting power to either the starter, or the solenoid signal, but you know the relay is fine, then there's an open in the circuit. If it's the starter supply wire from the battery(the big one), replace it. If it's the solenoid signal, trace it to find out where and why it's open, then splice it.
Also, have your battery tested, just incase. It takes a lot more juice to run the starter than to make your lights and radio work.

 

The above post sums it up pretty well. As stated, do yourself a big favor and clean the battery terminals & clamps before going any further. I've seen this fix a lot of electrical gremlins. A good preliminary test is to turn on the headlights and the watch them as someone attempts to start the truck. If they dim significantly or go out, the battery terminals are usually the problem. This is assuming that you have a fully charged and healthy battery of course.

 

Thank you everyone for the ideas.
My truck is back on the road, and running. The new mechanic said the starter was bad and apparently caused an extreme amount of resistance in the positive wire.There was also an inline fuse blown. He bought a new starter that came with the wire. This fixed the problem.

 

I recently had this same problem. Truck would not do anything when key was turned. Had it towed to a place that works on Fords. The mechanic took two days checking every circuit. When they got to the starter, it had 6v on relay and when key was turned had 12v. The relay was good but the starter went bad. After, chasing some wires and taking rear seat out they found a wire that was broken in B post that caused the starter to short out. Its a hard task chasing the wiring in these Ford. I would hate to see the bill from dealership if I had taken it there. I hope this helps people, I would have never found that or even thought about it.

 

Have the starter checked anyways, starters can have intermittent connection problems inside the part itself. Sometimes the abitor gets hung up and doesn’t connect with the flywheel, but yet you will hear it kick on. In your case sounds like it doesn’t retract after it starts the truck which explains the sound you hear if it sounds like a grinding sound of gears.

 

you must of missed the part where he said he bought a new starter and it fixed it.