Hello,

I'm pretty new to the boards. I've started one other thread and I got a ton of helpful responses so I thought I would try another.

I just moved from South Florida to The Pacific Northwest (Bellingham WA). My 2003 F-150 was bought in Florida and has never seen a winter before.

Yesterday we got our first real winter weather of the year. The temp dropped well below freezing and we got a few inches of snow. Now, she won't start. Seems to me like the two events are related, but who knows.

A week or so ago the weather started to get chillier and I noticed the she was taking a little longer to turn over. One morning I even had to give the starter a couple love-taps with a hammer to get it going (the only car trick my dad ever showed me).

Then, like I said, as of yesterday. Nothing. It's not turning over at all. Just makes a rrrrrr.. rrrrrr.. rrrrrr.. rrrrrr.. noise.

I did just drive it across the country, loaded down with my things... and that caused it's own set of problems. But, for the most part, I already had all that stuff fixed.

Any suggestions? Could I just need a new starter? The battery meter says the charge is good.

Thanks

 

could be starter or battery. have the battery tested. if the battery doesnt have enough cca then it isnt gonna start very well.

 

The battery gauge says full charge. And the lights, radio, etc. all work well.

I usually associate a dead battery with a clicking sound when you try to start it. But it's not clicking. It just won't turn over.

 

the battery can be fully charged but still be bad. say you have 650 cca, truck starts fine everyday. but then one day you have only 450, you'll have problems starting in cold weather. cca= cold cranking amps.

 

It takes amps to turn your start. when your battery is cold/old it doesnt produce as many amps as when its warm/new. All batteries are rated with a CCA or Cold Cranking amps, The colder you are the more you need. As for your radio, lights etc those require small amounts of voltage thats why they arent effected. take your battery in to get tested. Its the cheapest thing to do right now. If you have an '03 its prolly time to replace it anyway.

Side Note--- where in S. Florida? I just moved from Tampa to the Virginia Coast. Luckily my Optima Yellow top could handle the 60deg temp differance.

 

I lived in the Delray/Boca Raton area... on the east side of the state. I moved to Washington so I could ride my mountain bike more. I just moved at the wrong time of year.. d'oh.

 

I live in a cold climate area and have had that happen lots of times. Like the others have said its the battery. get a good new one.

 

It sounds like your starter drive( often called the bendix) has failed. I'm not sure by your description of the prior mornings if you may have more problems with the starter as well. I wouldn't hit the starter switch too many times or you may chew the teeth off the flywheel in one spot, I've seen it before. You will need to replace the entire starter or depending on how it acted those prior mornings just replace the starter drive. You can't get just the drive from Ford, you could check with the automotive jobbers.

 

No, if the bendix spring has failed, you will get a whirring sound from the starter, but it won't engage to turn over the flywheel. Take your battery out of the truck and take it to Autozone and have them check the cold cranking amps. I bet you will find that your battery is toast. And, if you do have to get a new battery, insist on an Interstate. Those red top, over priced batteries suck.

 

Yes, I know the sound well, I have heard it many times on many different vehicles. That's what I interpreted the problem to be, the OP said he recently had to hit the starter to get it to work. I understood the rrrrrrrrrrrr to be the whirring sound from the starter you mention.

 

Well, it's been an interesting day...

I took the battery out of the truck and called a cab. Cabs and tow trucks have a several hour wait today in Bellingham, so I stuck the battery in an old backpack and rode my bike to the local NAPA auto parts.

Wow, it is alot colder out than I thought it was. And car batteries are heavier than I thought they were.

But, I made it there and they tested the battery. It's got a full charge. I asked about CCA and he said it was all good and that the battery is not my problem.

With that info in hand I'm pretty sure it's the starter... good times. I would try to change it myself but the truck has a serpentine belt. And I don't see any kind of a tension clip anywhere.

I'm worried that the tension on the belt is created solely by the different wheels it's mounted to and that I'll need some kind of a special tool to get the new starter in there and the belt back to the proper tension.

True/False? Any suggestions? Should I just stop being cheep and pay a mechanic to fix it?

 

Oh, and thank you to everyone that's posted a reply. I've only used this forum a couple times but it's always been a big help. Great group of people here.

thanks,

 

The serpentine belt isnt related to the starter. The starter is located under the truck on the passenger side of the engine near the exhaust manifold.

 

Sh*t... then what was I hitting with a hammer?

The thing I was hitting is round and next to the battery and it has a connection running to it from the battery via a little electrical station up by the dash.

You know what... I should just bring it in before I cause any major damage to it.

 

Alternator? Might be the solenoid/relay is bad, Thats that thing on the firewall/dash with the wires coming out of it. Its only about $10. I myself have never replaced a Ford starter that was bad. It always ended up being something else.