My guess is if you don't find anything wrong with your connections, you have moisture inside of the starter motor solenoid. It can't be a weak battery - if it doesn't crank the first time, it ain't going to crank over the 6th time. Bad thing is if it is the starter, it is less than a year old if just replaced past Feb.

Very cold weather and high moisture can cause ice to form on the contacts; energizing the starter or tapping on it can remove some of the ice so the contacts can make a good connection.

Another piece of info to help is what do you hear when it doesn't turn over? Do you hear the pinion engage into the flywheel at all? This would verify the moisture issue. If you are getting no pinion movement at all, it could still be a moisture problem preventing the solenoid plunger to operate correctly (this will only get worse overtime if the case). But also if no movement, you need to check all the connections (including bat neg to motor).

 

Whew...truck started no problem this morning When the truck isn't starting I have power on the inside but hear nothing other than the fuel pump (I think) in the back. No clicks and nothing engaging.

I'll be checking over all the connections and ground this weekend - this will be the next chance I'll get to take it into a heated shop. Does anyone know where the ground location for the starter/motor is approximately?

Also, the starter I put in last Feb came with a lifetime warranty. If the problem does end up being condensation/ice in the starter is there a way to test the starter so I can utilize that warranty?

thanks for all your help guys!

 

my crown vic will act weird when its real cold and sits for awhile. ill turn key and get nothing.. get out shake the front end and it will start up. the battery is fine.. gotta be that moisture in the solenoid and i just replace the starter last year.

 

After closer inspection, I noticed the positive terminal on the starter solenoid had a little corrosion so I cleaned it up. No problems starting yet and its started up for me about 15 times since I cleaned the terminal up Saturday morning.

 

Agree; get the battery tested anyway. Never hurts and although it sounds like the problem is elsewhere stranger things have happened.

 

Update.....Since I cleaned the terminal, bolt, and washer on the starter on Jan 2 the truck has not missed a beat and has started every time. Probably 50 for 50 in the past week. It's amazing that a little corrosion can prevent your vehicle from starting!

 

my stock starter with 100,000 miles on it had corried threw and it wouldnt start that was crazy. the replacment starter had a thing to protect the wire

 

Another update.......

So I washed my truck last week, and the no-start problem came back. This had to be condensation in the starter - When I took the truck into the warm sharp to clean the terminals this condensation must have melted and drained out, for the problem to return a couple weeks later after I sprayed the underbody and wheel wells with a pressure washer.

Took it into the shop - new starter - problem fixed!