Valeri

I bought a 1995 F150 5.0 with 130,000 miles (automatic trans, 2 gas tanks, but the rear tank doesn't work -it had a sticker on it by the switch for the tanks saying as much -that's fine, I just use the front tank) at the end of August to use as my winter driver. I was pretty excited about it because I've never had my own pickup truck before, and winter driving with my Mustang can be fun, but also a little too Minneapolis Drift to really be safe. I was thrilled to have a 4X4 that even has a big enough bed for my motorcycle to fit.

Three days after purchase, I had to replace the AC clutch as it had seized up and caused the belt to chafe against it until it melted and broke (so, new drive belt, too). All was well until a couple weeks later when I turned the key to start it and got a single click. I put a charger on the battery overnight and the next day, it started right up. I drove it to the auto parts store and had them test the battery and alternator. They said the battery was fine, but that the alternator was faulty. I bought and replaced the alternator and thought I was back in business.

Then, I drove to work about a week and a half later, parked in the ramp, and when I tried to leave at the end of the day, it did that click with no start crap again. I called roadside assistance, and the guy walked up into the ramp (which has ceilings too low for the tow truck to even drive into) and said he used to have a truck just like mine and was sure it was the starter that was shot. He used a pair of piers and tried to bridge the nodes (or whatever they're called) on the starter solenoid (mounted on the passenger side fender wall right near the battery), which did nothing. He assured me it was pointless to try to jump start my truck because he was sure my starter was shot, but I asked him to do it anyway. He attached the jump pack to my battery and a ground and my truck started right up.

So, I'm left wondering: What the heck is wrong with my truck? When it starts, it blazes right up, no chugging or laboring to start, but when it doesn't, I get that single click and nothing.. although the interior lights and all the electronics work just fine when that happens. I notice that my battery gauge reads rather low during that single click crap, but after it's been jump started, the gauge pops from the quarter mark, to the 3/4 mark on the gauge. I've had this same scenario play out three times now where it won't start, then jump starts right up.

Electrical is definitely not my forte, so apologies if I use incorrect terminology or seem not to know what I'm doing (because I don't), but I'm willing to learn.
Could it actually be my battery? When I had it tested at the auto parts store, it was almost immediately after I had taken it off the charger overnight and driven straight there, so maybe that skewed the results? It can't be my alternator.. that's brand new.
Could it be some wiring, or is it actually the starter or starter solenoid?
I've considered that maybe I have some type of parasitic battery drain, but the fact that the dome light and all the electronics work just great when that clicking/no start stuff goes on makes me think there's plenty of juice to be had in the battery (in spite of what the battery gauge says).

I'd like to be able to figure this out on my own, both because I'm cheap (which is why I bought a $1,600 truck to begin with), and because I like to learn how to work on my truck by doing repairs myself. If you have any suggestions, please advise.
-Val

kd3pc

electrical....part with $50 and get a decent digital multi-meter (DMM). Then start looking at voltages in the starting system/wiring..

IF they fully tested the battery, current, draw, voltage, cells and so on - then you can almost rule out the battery...itself...now if you have a lot of add on electrical stuff, or towing wiring cobbled in the rear and so on...you will need to check that out, or make sure it is not drawing current..just sitting there.

Check your grounds, there are several threads here on the specifics, even for non-electrical types.

bests

ALTAJAVA

every now and then a battery will load test fine on the bench but won't turn over the engine, you get a click/clicking just like you are getting. When this happens it's just one cell in the battery that's bad. You need to test each cell to find this, a load test won't. This is why I don't like sealed batteries. All automotive batteries lose fluid over time, sometimes just adding electrolyte will fix it. If the caps come off your battery check the fluid level. If the plates are exposed at all they will not put out the power needed to start. Distilled water works if you don't have battery acid, but then it needs to charge. Tap water works too but will shorten battery life, sometimes a little sometimes a lot. If your battery is more than 4 years old I'd just replace it. 4-5 years is all that is expected, though many last a lot longer

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like a bad connection. Quite possibly a ground.Check both ends of all the wires in the starter circuit and make sure they are shiny clean and tight.

wde3477

Agree with Chris_1 to check your starter circuit wiring (the bigger cables).

Leading suspicion here is the connection at the battery terminals, since it seems a jump works every time.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Valeri

I drove my truck down to visit family last weekend, I packed along my multi meter in the hopes that my dad would help me figure out what the problem was. I no more than got to their place and put my car in park when it occurred to me that there was one thing I hadn't considered yet.

The first couple weeks I owned the truck, I never had this problem, it wasn't until after I bought a charging cable for my iPhone to keep in the truck that I started having issues with it starting. So, I began to put the pieces together. On the bottom part of the dash, beneath the radio and the temperature controls, there's a little door that you can flip open where there's a PowerPort, like a cigarette lighter for plugging in chargers. After I bought the cable for my iPhone, I just left that door open all the time figuring that it wasn't going to harm anything as long as I didn't have anything plugged in that would drain the battery. Turns out, for whatever reason, leaving that little door open was the source of the parasitic battery drain. For the past week, I've kept that little door flipped shut unless I'm actively charging my phone while the vehicle is running. I haven't had any issues with starting since.

92f150xl

I don’t think that’s you’re problem. I’ve left mine open for weeks and never had it not start. Plus even if that did draw something I can’t see it being enough to drain a battery down in the duration of time a work day is. Just my opinion. I would still go over the whole starting circuit as mentioned above.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

Opening the little cover over the power point does absolutely nothing electrical.
It's a good thought, but that's not the issue.

Valeri

Yeah, you're right. It wasn't that little door. Which itself isn't electrical, but the outlet behind it was loose in its socket and would pop forward when the door was open. I took that apart and jammed the plastic connector back through to the other side of the plastic sourround that keeps the outlet from popping out like that... I thought that maybe the strain on the wires was causing a short or something,. Anyway. That's not the source of the problem after all.

After weeks of running and starting just fine, my truck is once again not starting. It just clicks. I replaced the starter solenoid and the the alternator, stil, just a click when turning the key.

Today, I replaced the starter, and somehow things went from bad to worse. Now, when I reconnect the negative terminal to the battery, the truck still won't start, but as soon as the connection is made, sparks form at the battery terminal and then the new starter whirs constantly -no key in the ignition even! I immediately unhooked the battery cable. There's a chance that in my install of the starter, there may be a contact that's crossed or something, though it was pretty straight forward and impossible to put the eyelet-ended wires on the wrong terminals on the starter. Still, I was doing this while lying on the cold ground under my truck in very cold weather (this is the first day I've had available to work on the truck when the temp and windchill where I live has been above zero) and couldn't really feel my fingers after he first few minutes of work, so it's possible that I need to just readjust something there. I don't know.

Any idea what the heck is wrong now?

wde3477

Suggest if the starter whirls when the negative cable is reattached to the battery, the positive cable to the starter must be energized the whole time. Not seeing how your starter change-out could do this. Would check the solenoid by the battery - either being told to pull in by the control (smaller) wire on top, or the internal contacts have welded together - either way, sending power all the time to the starter. Also, suggest to double-check your wiring on the solenoid, since you replaced it, ensuring that the various cables are on the correct sides.