When I tried to start my truck after leaving work last night, nothing happened. It was like I didn't have any electrical power at all. I tried it a few times and it finally worked. When I got home I turned it off and tried to restart it and nothing. When I put the keys in sometimes I get the dash lights to come on, but when I turn the key everything dies. In 10 years and 165,000 miles this is the first time this has happened.

It is a 95 F150 2WD 5.0L Automatic. The voltmeter read good when it was running so I don't think it is the alternator. The truck started fine on the third try, so I don't think it is the battery.

I am thinking it could be a loose wire. Or maybe the starter. Could it be a coil or relay somewhere? It was cold and dark so I haven't been able to look under the hood yet.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
S.

 

Believe it or not the exact same thing happened to me just yesterday but after checking closer it didnt have constant spark and when i checked the rotar button was really ruster so i scrape it and finanlly got it started after about 20 mins (it was flooded bad so i got a new cap and button and went ahead and changed the plugs now she runs like a charm (for now) hahahahahahahahaha



Good Luck


Daniel

 

Would that explain why it was completely dead? It didn't spark, turn over, click, grind, nothing. The radio and lights didn't work either. It was like the battery was completely dead. But on the third try it fired up without any trouble.

 

The lights are "hot at all times" so you've got a problem with either your main battery ground cable or the main power cable. I'd bet on the ground.

 

1993 f-150 2wd 5.0 Automatic only 73K miles and the same damn problem Scraper is experiencing. my friends have been referring to this as it having PMS, only starting when it wants to. my favorite quote from them though is ''I'm tired, quit putting that in my ignition"

 

Ok, so the samething to me last night, so I called AAA to come give me a jump. The guy shows up in a new F-650 with the Powerstroke Diesel and I barely get enough power to make the engine the roll over. Left it running unhooked the trucks and touched the brake pedal and it dies. So I had to have it towed barely fits on the flatbed. Turns out the battery had about one volt left. SCRAPER try a new battery first.

 

I vote with StrangeRanger, clean the connections at the Starter Relay (Battery Side), Battery Terminals (Both), and both Body and Engine Grounds.
If does not fix it you may have bad wiring under the Engine Relay Fuse Box.

 

I had the battery checked and it was fine. There was some corrosion on the battery terminals. Where are the body and engine grounds located? I am planning on checking and cleaning as many of the electrical connections that I can.

By the way, the truck acted bad on Saturday night too. But Sunday and today it was fine.

Thanks for all of the help.
S.

 

Engine Ground = Lower RH front of engine
Body Ground = RH front of engine compartment, front of fender apron.

 

On a 95 I believe the engine ground is at the starter mounting flange; I know the 96 is that way. The ground cable tends to corrode out at the intermediate chassis ground.

See this thread for a similar issue:
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=227632