Truck laid up 6 months - Page 2

Try a set of booster cables on your starter.Attach to battery and ground the starter and positive to the pin on starter.

Hello Copper Head,

Don't know if you fixed your truck yet, but saw your problem and it prompted me to join up so I could offer my two cents. If I were in your position, before changing any parts I would do the following:

- If you have a multi meter, check for 12 volts at the battery posts.
- Even if it does, it doesn't hurt to have it load tested. Anyplace that sells batteries will usually do it for free.
If the battery checks out good:
- Inspect both battery terminals for corrosion; you can't always see it without pulling them off. (8mm socket or open end wrench if they're factory....if I remember right)
- Inspect both battery CABLES for corrosion.....even if they look good, doesn't mean they are.
- I'm not sure about the 4.2 V6, but Ford likes to run their cables along the bottom of the front of the engine, so the cables get nailed with road gunk from the bottom and leaky water pumps from the top. I've actually seen cables rot from the inside out on Fords.
- If you have a multi meter, you can simply ohm the cables out. If not, go along the cables with your fingers and check for "crunchy" spots. If there are any crunchy spots, I would bet that a cable change would have you back on the road.
- Check the cable where it connects to the starter....look for corrosion and security. Might not hurt to check the torque on the mount bolts for the starter at the same time.
- Finally, check all your grounds; especially the ones in the starting circuit.

I'd be surprised if it isn't something simple like I mentioned above. I can't count the times I had a bad cable that looked almost new from the outside, but after cutting them open found a lot of white fluffy stuff mixed in with a little bit of copper.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Hope it helps......especially since I've already learned quite a bit about scrappin' since I stumbled upon y'all the other day.

Take care,
Joe

P.S. There's a bonus if it is a bad cable.....you can add the old one to your copper stash!

Hello again Copper Head,

I failed to mention something......if you haven't yet disconnected your battery, there may be DTC's (codes) in your PCM. After you disconnect the battery, they'll be erased. So, if you have access to a code reader.....or better yet, a scantool.....it wouldn't hurt to check for codes before disconnecting the battery. Even if the MIL isn't on, there could still be "pending" codes. There might not be too....but if there is, they can sometimes be helpful. While I have yet to have a DTC tell me exactly what to change, when there are DTCs they can be helpful when troubleshooting.

Hope this helps.
Joe

Hello Mechanic688,

Good call.....I forgot about fusible links. I'm not sure about '03's, but I just took a peek under the hood of my 99 F-150 and it has 'em. Mine has the 5.4, but electrically it shouldn't be too much different. There are probably a couple I didn't see, but there were two of 'em on the positive cable on the F-150.....about six inches from the battery. If the 03 has them, it is definitely worth a look.

Copper Head: You can usually tell if a fusible link is bad by the insulation. It'll usually look burnt or bubbled. As for finding them, they'll sometimes actually be labeled or be a different color insulation. They're actually a skinnier wire than the wire they're protecting, but they look like they've got twice the insulation. At any rate, good luck with your truck!

Take care,
Joe

Originally Posted by Copper Head

Ok well I went to - Garys you pull it which is a yard that you can pull off the items you need for your car, i pulled off three solenoids from other fords and as to what the chance of me getting 3 broken solenoids are I don't think so - - but same symptom - I am going to ark the starter next
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Plenty of spark there but nope touch the 2 poles causes a reaction almost like a short - maybe they sold me a bum starter

Ford uses different starters for automotive and standard transmission. At least this was th case with my Ranger.

I would check the air condition compressor if it has air.It could be locked up.Had a F 150 that did the same thing

I had a similar issue with my 99 explorer and thought it was the battery, turns out it wasn't. The guy at the store it may be the safety interlock that will not allow it to start in gear. It is an automatic, he told me put in neutral and see if will start. I thought that it will never work, hot dog. It fired right up. Just a thought, doesn't cost you any extra money to try it.