97 f-150 won't start
 

Hey all.....so the beast left me stranded on my lunch break last Friday. Tried jumping it but to no avail. Had to get it towed back to the house. All I hear is the click under the hood. Battery is less then 1 yr. old and is still running all other a
Thanks everyone,
Tommy
97-F150ccessories so I think it and alternator are ok. I tried hot jumping the truck from the starter to the positive side on batter to see if it was the wiring.....no start. My guess is that its the starter.....any other ideas or things I should try? Also, any help on the best way to pull and reinstall new starter (if that is the problem) would be great. Truck is a 97 4x4 with 120,000 miles.

Start with the basics: battery voltage, spark, and fuel :thumbsup:

so you tried to jump start it and nothing. all you get is a click and all the accessoies work right? it sounds like a starter to me. but just so you know, when a battery is bad it could still have plenty of power to operate the accessories and not be able to start. depends on cca and such. does it have the right battery for the truck? and what type is it? what motor? take the belt off then try to crank it.

My 97 left me stranded out in the middle of the woods during hunting season one year with the same issue. Some of these trucks have issues with the starter cable. The area just above the starter gets corroded internally to the point that it affects the continuity at the starter. I have several friends that have experienced the same condition. Depending on what month of the year your truck was built the cable could cost from $40.00 to $130.00. There are two different styles....(When you go to the auto parts store know what month the truck was assembled because they will ask).It may be the starter as others have suggested but I know for a fact that this issue is also a concern with some early F150's. Good luck.

Remove the serpentine belt and see if it cranks.

Accessories can seize and lock the engine so tight the starter can't spin. My A/C clutch did that to me last winter and earned my truck a ride home on the AAA flat bed wrecker.

Steve

Thanks all for your input. DYNOTECH, this sounds a lot like my truck right here. Upon move investigation, the cable where it conects to the starter was pretty corroded along with the selonid and starter itself. The starter did crank once off the truck and hooked up to battery with jumpers but sounded horrible. I'm gonna replace the starter tomorrow and get some new wiring in there (from switch to starter). The motor is a 4.6 Matt, battery is a duralast (I know not the best) and was one yr. old in Sept....it is the right battery for the truck.

Thanks,
Tommy

I would short the small post on the relay to the big one and see if that starts it. I would replace the relay first just because its cheap and easy to replace. My truck did the same thing recently and it was the relay.

Most of the time it is a grounding issue. Corrosion. However, the starters themselves go bad. Just take the starter to an Autozone and have it checked. If it is good to go, then check all your connections for corrosion.

Got the starter off.....Will get it tested but hooked it up to the battery and it rund but sounds horrible. Leadswere really corroded so will be getting new wire and starter. I did check the selonid and it was good.

Will advise how it goes later tonight after work.

Thanks all,
Tommy

Thanks again for all who helped. Got the new starter in last night and built the lead wire out of new battery cable with new conectors....$138 all together and was done by 7 pm (would have been nice if I could have got this fixed beforee the time change!! haha). So it fired right up and the beast is once again happy and so am I.

Thanks again all,
Tommy