The truck starts quickly most of the time. Occasionally when I turn the key to start nothing happens. No clicks, thunks or sparks. After a short period (the shortest being 5 minutes & the longest an hour) The truck starts quickly as normal. Any ideas?

The battery checks fine. There is no corrosion around the terminals. The cables are in good shape. There is no grinding, sparking or even a flickering gauge. After what appears to a random period of time it starts. If you need information that I didn't include just ask.
Thanks.

 

Try putting it in Neutral and wiggling the shift lever up and down. Your MLPS (neutral safety switch) may be slightly out of adjustment.

 

If absolutely nothing happens, you have a power or power delivery issue, usually the battery, connections, and battery cables.

If by "nothing" you mean something (interior or exterior lights that aren't controlled by the ignition switch) did work but not what you expected, then the problem is different from "nothing works" and you need to be extremely specific about your observations so you can be pointed in the correct direction.

Don't think so. He mentioned that there wasn't any gauge activity which can not be explained by a maladjusted DTR switch.

 

Thank you for the suggestions.

My intended meaning of 'nothing happens' is 'nothing out of the ordinary happens'. If the ignition is turned to the run position the gauges do all things that they have always done. When the ignition is turned to start the truck normally starts quickly on the first try. The only change is that there is silence instead of the starter starting the engine.

The next time it happens I'll try the shifter to neutral suggestion, and look for any out of the ordinary indicators or gauges. Since I can not force the problem it may be a while before I can post any new information.

 

Not sure, but could this be a bad starter? I mean normally you will still hear something when the starter is bad, but maybe it is really dead under certain conditions. So maybe check the electrical connections on the starter?

That is just an idea that came to my mind, since I am facing some starter problems on my 2006 5.4 engine.

 

It would appear that Murphy is alive and well. The truck has not exhibited the problem since my last update. We have been driving truck daily and it has been working fine. Before the problem showed up the truck might not be used for up to five or six days. So it seems that sitting for more than a few days has something to do with the problem. If it happens again, or the cause is determined, I'll post another update.

 

Did you check the battery cable that goes to the starter at the starter?

 

I guess that could also be a bad ground connection. If there is corrosion on a ground cable it may work when it is used, but if it sits for several days, the corrosion may build up preventing the electrical connection from being able to work. As Roadie said, I would start looking at the cables on the starter itself.

Good luck.

 

I checked the cables at the battery and the starter, the ground point and in between. Nothing was loose, and there was no obvious corrosion.

After reading the latest suggestion's, the re-reading the previous ones, I realized there there was a simple but very important flaw in my troubleshooting. This problem surfaced after the truck had not been driven for close to a week. It started fine as usual, but had the problem after I had stopped to pick up some things. It started about 15 minutes later as normal. It refused to start again after a couple more errand stops. I checked the cables, but When I checked the cables is the problem. I checked them when I got home at the end of the day. That may make a huge difference.

We have been down a car for over a week now. The truck has been driven every day without any problem. We get the other vehicle back Friday. The plan is to let the truck sit for a week then check the cables for tightness. If they are still tight, then I'll check much more closely for corrosion. I'll post what I find.

Many thanks to all!

 

Color me embarrassed. I've been living in SC for about 12 years now, in a relatively low crime area. So, I forgot about the aftermarket alarm that was installed by the dealer in Houston, TX. The truck theft is so bad this dealer automatically puts one in all the new vehicles. This alarm makes noise, but it also cuts power to the fuel pump when triggered. Once I remembered that, I bypassed the alarm connection to the fuel pump. The problem has not happened again. Bottom line the problem was a dying alarm.

 

Congratulations on finding the problem and thanks for letting us know.