98 f150, 4.6v8, 157K miles, fresh oil change

So i went out to the truck this morning and when I went to crank it, it turned over once...maybe even only half way...then nothing. It had done this once before, but would usually start up on the second try.

The battery is good. All the electronics in the cab came right on.

Is this a problem with the starter?

 

Give the starter a few good taps with a hammer then try it again. If the motor still wont turn over try removing the serpentine belt. If it starts with the serpintine belt off, turn the motor off relatively soon, as your water pump wont be pumping coolant. Check your pullys, AC compressors are known to lock up and cause the motor to not turn over. Also, even with a good battery if your battery terminals or the ring terminal on the starter power stud are corroded or loose there wont be good amp flow. You might want to check that out before pulling the belt off.

 

I also had an issue recently with some sort of liquid on my #4 plug (either coolant or oil - hard to tell). Could it be hydrolock?

 

Well, to check that you can put a 19mm or 3/4" socket on the crank pully and try to turn the engine clockwise by hand to see if it's locked up. You can also remove the plug from the cylinder that you suspect might have a leak and try to start it. The motor will start and run on 7 cylinders and launch any liquid out of the cylinder. If you have a leak you would have most likely noticed your truck blowing either blue, for an oil leak, or white, for coolant, smoke out of the exhaust before it would ever hydrolock. coolant on the #4 and #5 plugs is somewhat common because the thermostat gasket often leaks and is right there by #4. That would cause coolant to find its way from the top of the head down onto the top of the plug and wire. Then when you take the plug out it and your spark plug socket will have coolant on it.

 

Yeah, the liquid was definitely on top of the plug and around the bottom of the boot. Bottom side of plug looked clean. I will check out the starter when I get home. Thanks!

 

No problem. I see them all the time. Sometimes you need someone to hold the key turned to start while you hit the starter. That leaking coolant will cause a misfire on #4 eventually if you dont replace the thermostat housing gasket. Good luck!

 

I have already had the misfire issue on #4 - twice within about 6 - 7 months of each other. never figured it would be the thermostat. I will check that out too.

 

If it's not the thermostat gasket it is the intake gasket leaking on that corner. If you can get your hands on a radiator pressure testing kit, from harbour freight or amazon.com or something you can probably locate the source of the leak. BTW did you get the truck to start?

 

This symptom is the EXACT reason I joined this forum. As with most things -you only find out about "Stuff" after it happens.
In my case I went out to start the truck ( '98 with 4.2L with only 170K km) and had the same symptom as the original poster. That is, it started to turn over and then stopped...
So, figured it may have been the battery, the starter, the solenoid on the firewall or even the wiring to the starter. All of those were suspect after searching for "no start" symptoms. I thought the starter was going to be the culprit but since the damn bolts were on good and tight, and I was trying to get the starter off in a snow covered driveway, I decided to tow it to a shop. They called me back to say the starter didn't fix it and the engine wont turn over....
Back to researching again and I then found out about the HYDROLOCK condition the 4.2 is prone to! I had to tow the truck back as I wasn't going to pay the shop to diagnose/repair...
It makes sense now, on my last trip with it I noticed the heater would go cold and hot. I didn't pay too much attention to it but I bet it was burning the coolant then. When I turned it off the coolant filled the cylinder(s)
I checked the coolant level just before it got towed and noticed it was REALLY low but it did't dawn on me at the time as I figured it wasn't a "cooling" problem -it was a no start problem...
Anyway, I'll be popping the plugs this weekend and I'm BETTING there will be fluid in one or more cylinders..
Questions:
1) Since this happend from an attempt to start the engine does the starter have enough torque to bend a rod?
2) What is the typical damage done in this scenario?
3) Am I going to have to pull the engine?
4) how can I check for damaged bottom end (rods)

Thanks guys -maybe this will also help the original poster...

 

The 4.2L is from the same family as the 3.8L which often has head and head gasket issues so I wouldn't be surprised at all if you found you have a blown head gasket. After you take the plugs out and crank the motor to blow all the coolant out you should squirt a little oil in each cylinder and crank it out as well to coat the cylinder walls to keep it from rusting in case you let the truck sit for a day or two before fixing the leak. I have never heard of a starter bending a connecting rod but i suppose it wouldn't be impossible. If it did you'll know soon after starting it back up cause it'll run like crap. a compression test would show low compression on a cylinder with a bent rod, but like I said, there's a pretty slim chance of it. Hydrolock doesn't cause much lasting damage. Once you shoot the coolant out and fix the leak you'll be back in business. You wont have to pull the motor but you will definitely have to pull the heads. Now the issue is finding the failed component. Obviously you're going to replace the head gasket and bolts. Take the heads and clean them up with brake cleaner and look for cracks. They might be visible, but they might not, if you can't see anything you need to take the heads to a local engine/machine shop that can pressure test your heads. If you're worried about a bent rod now is a good time to compare the travel of the pistons. A bent rod will make it so the piston doesn't reach as high as the others. If the heads check out go ahead and reinstall them with the new gasket and bolts. I would change the plugs since you've already got them out.