Hey guys I really need your help. I acquired an 88 f250 heavy duty with the 5.8 liter, automatic. It's a bare bones truck good for haulin hay that's about it. I need to get it runnin so I can get rid of it! It's been sittin for about 2 years and I replaced the fuel pumps, and fuel pressure regulator. I got it to run one time and it hasn't been able to start since then. The problem is when I was cranking it over it all of a sudden lost all power. After a few minutes I got power back and tried to start it again and the solenoid just clicked. Replaced the battery, starter (the old one had a rust hole in the side of it) now it's still doing the same thing. I get a starter clunk and all power goes out. Few minutes later and it comes back on. I turned the crank by hand a full revolution and back and it's not seized up. Pleeease guys ne ideas what the problem could be??? Thanks in advance!

 

Check to make sure the ground is in good condition from the battery to the block and then down to the frame. Common for the cable to corrode at the first connection on the block causing all kinds of trouble.

Adrianspeeder

 

Well I replaced the grounds after grinding to bare metal. Still same problem. Don't know where to go from here.

 

While I've never had this problem in a truck, I have had it happen on a atv I own and it ended up being that the starter solenoid was bad. The switch developed a crack in it and would only work till it heated up (as in a matter of a second or two). I'd make sure the juice is making it to the starter and work your way back from there.

 

Well you didn't hurt anything. Will the truck turn over using a screwdriver to bridge the starter relay?

Adrianspeeder

 

alrighty then guys, here's the latest. Couldn't even get to jump over the solenoid so I started messing around and found that when I jiggled the fusible link running to the alternator plug I got power back. So...I cut the fusible link out got a new one and when I hooked the battery back up and turned the key to start the truck low and behold the starter spun wildly (had the starter pulled out to check it) problem is I couldn't get it to shut off until I pulled the battery cable off!!!!!!! So now another problem. Problem is I have power to the starting circuit all the time now and cant get it to stop. Could it be the EEC relay or something else I'm missing. I rechecked all the wiring and of course it's raining now so I can't mess with it. This truck is going to be the death of me. By the way I had an extra starter solenoid handy so I switched it out and still had power across the circuit. Any ideas?

 

So the trigger wire on the starter relay is hot all the time now?

Another idea could be your ignition switch. There is a pinout guide in the haynes manual to check the correct function of all the key positions.

Adrianspeeder

 

yep from the trigger wire thru the solenoid down to the starter... key off. Of course I can only hook up the pos. terminal because otherwise I get the fireworks display and spinning starter. I just bought the haynes manual tonight as a last cause so I'm going to scour through it. I appreciate your input and I can't thank you enough.