I recently upgraded my truck from an 2002 Dodge Dakota to a 2002 F150 SuperCrew pickup. I get the feeling that I might be regretting this decision.

I have barely had the Ford for a week and it has been in the shop 3 times already for a startup issue. The symptoms are the following: I will go out to start the truck, put the key in the ignition, turn the key and all I get is one single *CLICK* sound. I can try up to a half dozen times and all I get is the click sound. All the accessories come up before I try and engage the engine. The headlights come on strong, the radio plays, and all the interior lights come up so I know it is not a dead battery issue (I also tried to jump start it the first time I had this problem which didn’t work).

I took it through the place I purchased the truck from (it is covered under their 3 month/3000 miles warranty) and they took it to some shop which replaced the starter with a rebuilt. It worked for about 24 hours and then I ran into the same problem. This time I had it towed to my local Ford dealership. They checked the electrical system an they replaced the starter relay. Things worked great until last night leaving from work had the same problem. However after calling the Ford dealership for a tow, I went back out and got the truck started; I still drove it down their for them to check.

So I am not sure what they are going to do and I don’t know if this truck is worth it. I would like to know if anyone out there have had this issue or heard of this issue and/or any possible fixes.

Thanks!

 

Try to replace negative cable that goes from battery to ... I don't remember... starter?. Even though it might look OK it could be rusted inside. That's what happened to me... It's around $60 at the dealership...
Search this site, maybe you'll find how it's called
Just my 2 cents

 

First off just because you are having a small problem doesn't mean you should regret buying such a great truck.

The two most common things that cause what you are describing are what was mentioned above. The cable will corrode under the insulation so a visual inspection won't help.

And the second most likely suspect is a bad starter solenoid. Very commonly over looked. Go out and buy a cheap remote starter or if you have an old timing light laying around it might have one built in. Next time the truck won't start hook the remote starter to the two large posts on the solenoid, turn the key to "on" and then push the remote starter button. If the truck starts you have a bad solenoid. They cost about $8-$12 bucks and take 10 min to replace.

Just to make you more comfortable I just went through basically the same thing you are going through and even a few seasoned mechanics didn't figure it out!

 

Could have traded on a Dakoda and had the same problem.
It behooves me to understand why the selling dealer would replace a $60 starter on a "whim" without checking out three cables, connections and a starter relay along with a starter as well as a battery capacity test, and have this all over with in one shot.
A battery with a broken intercell connector can operate the lights but not start the engine.
There is a difference of about 200 amps in draw between the two actions.
There is no more to it than this beside the ingition switch operating thestart relay.
Makes one point a finger to his own head ya know.
It's not that difficult-duh!

 

Hey thanks everyone for your replies. That restores my faith in my truck to hear that I am not alone with this issue. I will contact the Ford dealership with some of your suggestions if I don’t feel like they checked these options.

When they replaced the starter relay the dealership did a complete electrical check of the system and found it to be ok. Could the problem with the bad cables not be detected with this test? They did say the battery did not have any problems.

I will report back with what I hear from the dealer.

Thanks again.

 

Well got of the phone with the Ford dealership, they were able to duplicate the problem with my truck not starting yesterday morning. They kept it all day and finally came to the conclusion that they needed to replace the starter again.

I suggested they check what was mentioned to me in this post which they sort of gave me the "yeah right, we'll check that as well" sarcastic response. They wanted to keep it overnight outside and test it in the morning today. I should be getting a call here today to see what they find out.

Thanks.

 

I think it may happen agian it happened to my truck and it was corrsion on the cable going from the starter to the battery

 

I agree with you George4.6, I am not sure this will correct the problem. Do you (or anyone) know how hard/expensive of a do-it-yourself repair that would be?

However if their is a funny side to this situation, I just called the Ford dealership. It started with no problem this cold morning however the ABS light is now flashing which they are now trying to track down. If I hold out for long I may get a totally reubilt TRUCK!

 

If it is corrosion it will get up inside the cable and basicly you will hav to go to the dealer to get the cable. unless the auto parts stores are carring them now.

 

Well it is the ABS module that is not working. Not sure what the difference between that and a individual sensor is.

They say the truck's computer is communicating to everything but the ABS module.

Well we will see if this is the end of my truck repairs.

 

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here, this thread helped me out alot. Just like the original poster I just bought a 2002 and ithe next day all I got was a click when I'd try to start it in the cold. For me it was a bad negative battery cable like someone above suggested. When it wouldn't start one day in the cold I ran my jumper cables from the neg battery terminal to the location it bolts onto the starter and it fired right up. Just finished installing the new cable last night. Thanks.

 

my guess is that they shorted out the ABS module while trying to improperly jump start your truck and they cooked it!

Make sure everything else on your truck works fine before you drive it off the lot again.

 

having starter problems also had a tune up and oil change done at the shop now truck won't start until playing around with the starter relay switch and cables . once truck starts . starter keeps running.. any advice.

 

barnabus;5140542]having starter problems also had a tune up and oil change done at the shop now truck won't start until playing around with the starter relay switch and cables . once truck starts . starter keeps running.. any advice.never had this problem before until tune up done at shop yesterday.