Anyone have a problem like this?
 

I tried searching but not exactly sure what keywords fit, you'll see why.

It all started one day when I was sitting in my truck ready to come home from school. I was on the phone so was just listening to the radio while I finished the call. It was on for probably 20 seconds. When I went to start the truck nothing happened at all, no turnover, no power even anymore. I checked cables to the battery and everything looked fine, went back to the truck, put the key in and it made the "your door is open with the key in the ignition" dinging so I knew I had power. I tried to start the truck and and it started to turn over but then gave up. I tried again, it almost gave up at the same point but did actually start.
I took it to dealer and they tightened the positive battery cable. Wow, excellent diagnoses.
Needless to say, still having the same issue. When I try to start the truck it starts to turn over like it should then partly gives up, sometimes it's so violent it shakes the truck.

:help:

Maybe its a bad battery?

Mine has started doing something similar to that. If I turn the truck off and then try to turn it back on within a few seconds it has trouble turning over. :confused:

I think it is actually. This is my second battery and when I had the first one replaced it was doing something very similar. I think its time for a Optima or something.

It could also be a leak in your electrical system some where. Do you have any after market goodies on your truck that would require re-doing of your electrical system? Cause maybe some oen wired a wire wrong or somthing and it drains ur battery. But im really not a electrical genius, im just saying what could be wrong.

Nah, nothing that would cause that.
The only thing I have is a PNP Sirius tuner that I absolutely make sure to turn off and set the timer to turn off after 30 minutes if I was to forget, and the Edge. The first time this happened was pre-Edge so I know that's not the cause.
Could the alternator cause something like this or no because it's having problems on the startup?

when i was at the dealer buying my truck it did that.. long story short they had to put in a brand new battery. and said if it ever does anything bring it straight back

The thing is this is the second battery Tical has put in. There's something else at work here. The alternator could be overcharging just enough to kill the battery over time, or there's an excessive load from the starter that's causing it. The dealer should have load tested the battery and done a current draw test on the starter as well as test the alternator.:cool:

Thanks, although I can tell them to check these things. Chances are if they don't want to, they're not going to. After all they "know" what the issue is. :rolleyes:
How hard is it on the truck to drive it like it is? I'm in school full time, 5 days a week and work 26 hours a week, 4 days a week. Seeing as how there is only 7 days in a week I haven't had a day off since September.
They charged me $10 for a Ford 500 courtesy car last time when all they did was tighten the batterly cable I might as well splurge and go to Budget and get an '05 Mustang for $40.

Just a thought.
The first one could have just been a bad battery from the factory. The second may have just went bad from the loose cable. The loose battery cable could have caused the second battery to go bad. Never getting a good charge. Check the output voltage on the alternator, if I'm not mistaken it should be 14.4v.

I was monitoring with the Edge on the stock tune for a while and it was always +/- 14.4V. I'm pretty sure it's getting that reading right from the alternator but I could be wrong.

Also it would need to be checked at the battery. At the battery post as well as the cable clamp around the post. But it may show good now with the clamp has been tightened on it.

Sounds like a ground problem.Check Your grounds out.Clean em up ,put them back together .Sounds like a pain to do but make a couple of ground cables and ground your starter and alternator.I've seen this problem alot and unless the ford techs are any good they'll never figure it out.They'll keep replacing batteries and alternators.Just my two cents .Ford dealerships blow.Do it yourself.

That may be true, but unless I do it at midnight in the dark (live in apt. no garage) or don't go to school and/or work one day, doing it myself isn't really an option.
TheBandit, You say you've seen this alot. Where have you seen it? Do you work for Ford? Do you know if this is an issue documented somewhere like a TSB or something?

No I'm a 10yr deisel mechanic.I work for a truck lease company.I've seen and diagnosed just about every kind of starting problem you can think of.I'm not saying that it's ground cable for sure.What I'm saying is that the motor turns over but not enough to start it the way you described it to me sounds like a loose ground cable or bad ground connection.Put a wrench on your batterie cables and tighten them.When ford sold the heavy truck division to Sterling they put a ground cable from the starter to the frame.When this cable loosened up or was no longer making a good ground this would happen.On a fleet of close to 300 of these trucks we drilled out the framerails and reinforced every ground to starter and ground to batterie connection making starting problems of this type almost obsolete.If your not a do it yourselfer then keep bringing it to the stealership they will eventually get it right.Most likely two days out of warrantee like they did to me.If it was me even at midnight on the ground outside my apartment I'd tighten the batterie cables and check the starter connections.Saves you a trip to The local Ford Rape center.