Hi. I hope someone can help me with a problem with my '91 6 cyl F-150.

I parked it last weekend in it's garage, after a day on the ice. Everything worked fine. The following weekend (last weekend) I went to go fishing, and it will not start. When I turn the key there is one click, then nothing. I thought perhaps battery, it is old, so I changed that (clean and tight) but still nothing.

I am not a mechanic, but have had this truck for 20 years, so I have done some work on it. I am guessing it is the starter. Is there a way to check that? It is cold here in N WI, so i would like to be able to fix the problem the first time. Or, I guess, the second...

Thank you all for all of the help. I also have an old snow mobile and an old tractor, and i know these forums are full of good advice.

 

Follow the + cable from the battery to the starter, and clean every connection along the way.

 

Read these captions:

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I went through the wires and found no visible problems. I looked at the diagrams below and seem to be ok. When I bridge the relay (thing on the fender) I get nothing. Am I to assume it is the relay? I have not climed under the truck and bridged the terminals to see if the starter spins, but it is cold and dark when I get home. I am wondering why this would have happened if it was a wireing problem. It worked fine, and I did no work to it. It was 30 below for a couple of days while it sat, but it is warmer now.

Would a new relay be the solution?

 

Depends on which terminals you bridged. Bridging across the 2 big studs eliminates the relay & ig.sw. from the circuit, so if either was the problem, the starter would have worked.

If you only bridged from the FRONT big stud (which should include the big red battery cable) to the small one, you only eliminated the ig.sw. & clutch/MLPS, so the relay might still be the problem.

If you bridged from the REAR to the small, you didn't test anything.

 

I bridged the two big studs on the relay. My starter is 20 years old and looks like it should fall apart soon. The relay, which has a kind of forked conection thingy on it, looks ok. Should the starter, the relay, or both be my concern? It will only cost about $100 or so to change them both, the main problem is the cold. And snow. And, of course, the ice.

 

Then the starter is the most-likely source of your symptom. Bridge its small terminal to its large terminal to be sure. I'd use a 12V test light as the bridge to be sure it's actually hot during the test.Why? Is it loose on the block? Is its case loose? If so, tighten it up - that could be your whole problem.Hmmm... I didn't think that was used until '92. What's the 10th digit of your VIN, & the build date from the door sticker? Is your front bumper basically straight all the way across, or does it turn back under the headlights?

 

Wow...you are good...it is not a '91, it is a '93. I have had it so long that I forgot I had a '91 Chevy way back when and just always considered this to be a '91. The Chevy S-10 we bought new and it did not last long. I sold it after a year or so. This '93 has been with us since we bought it in '93, with 6000 miles on it: it only has 120K now. It has been a good truck, though it is starting to show it's age. A little rust on the fenders and needs new shocks, but is still a sound vehicle. I put an alternator on it a few years ago, now will be replacing the starter. One belt, but I have not even had to replace a light bulb, though the brake lines are starting to need replacing. (I have a few lengths of line and wrenches and flaring tool in case of emergancies.) It will be a few days before I get under it to replace the starter. I will let you know what happens. Thanks for the help.

 

Test it before buying another one. If you blow $150 on a starter you don't need, it'll make it that much more difficult to afford whatever you DO need.