IT IS YOUR GROUND

I just went through this exact same scenario! Including replacing the solenoid and having the truck start for a while, then not starting. Replacing the starter, it works for a while then won't. There is a common ground point on your frame shared by the - battery ground and the starter ground. Clean it up with your dremel (wires and frame) and apply some dielectric grease to keep it fresh.

+5 points for StrangeRanger!!

 

If the common ground point on your frame was the problem to begin with, what difference would it have made what parts you replaced? Why would your new parts have worked at all if the problem was elsewhere to begin with?

 

I have a 93 F 150 4x4 and I had the same problem. I replaced the battery, it worked for a while. I replaced the solenoid, it worked for a while. I replaced the starter, and it worked for a while. I added an additional ground wire from the battery to the frame, and I haven't had the problem since, and that was over a year ago. Why the new parts worked for a while is a mystery to me, but they did. I'm with everyone that mentioned it being your ground.

 

I don't know. It really made no logical sense to me, I was just happy to have figured it out (after time and $$). My old grease monkey uncle once told me, " If you're having weird intermittent electrical problems, especially on a fuel injected car - check the ground!" I felt dumb but relieved when I cleaned up the ground and it worked. It will cost you nothing to try it.

 

Replacing the ground cable on this generation of truck qualifies as preventive maintenance. It is not a question of if it will fail but merely of when. Of course Ford wants an arm and a leg for their OEM cable with the intermediate ground point -- and it will rot out sooner rather than later. The cheapest and best solution is exactly what Bassbme recommends and what I have done. Get 2 ground cables. The first is the length of the OEM cable with a battery clamp at one end and an eyelet at the other. Run it from the (-) terminal on the battery to the ground point on the block at the starter flange. The second cable is shorter, the same length as the ground-to-ground dimension on the OEM cable and has an eyelet on both ends. It runs from the block ground to the frame ground. The cables to do this are available at any parts store and cost a fraction of what the Ford cable costs. They completely eliminate the problem