I have a 97 f150 v8 auto. I came home for lunch, then tried tried to leave and the solenoid on the firewall just clicks. I have cleaned the terminals, charged my existing battery, borrowed a friends battery and it will not start. The starter was replaced 3 years ago, and it was new. Any ideas as to what is wrong? The headlights work fine, radio, anything that runs off the battery. I turn the ignition on and it just makes a clicking sound. Gauges do not move/shake. Im baffled

 

Just a click from the selenoid is generally a bad battery-even though you tried a friends battery have it tested at autozone or somewhere like that-they should do it free. Does the starter try to do anything or do you just get click. I would think either battery or the selenoid-my first guesses. Selenoids should be simple to replace and if im correct are cheap-so maybe try that as well.

 

Its fixed now. After spending a day underneath it, getting the starter tested, found out it was just a ground wire. There is a ground wire that bolts between the starter and the transmission. Found out the threads were stripped, so i moved the ground wire to one of the other bolts. Got back in the truck, and it started right up.