Truck does start now
 

So I have a 97 F-150. It has the 4.6l V8 in it with an automatic. On Sunday it was driving fine. Today I went to start it and it a clunking noise and then nothing else. I threw the battery charger on it all day hoping it was just a dead battery. Nothing changed when I tried to start it this afternoon. Below is a video of the noise it makes when I try to start it. I know nothing about trucks or autos. So someone please tell me where to start looking for how to fix y truck.

Yes I know in the gauge cluster is shows me on "R" instead of "P". The little red marker is to the right one letter. It is in park when I try to start the car.

Is the engine seized or is the starter not turning?

If the engine spins freely, make sure the connections on the battery and starter are all tight and clean. After that, gently tap on the starter with a small hammer and then try to start it.

sounds like the starter is kicking out but not turning.

I am hoping the the engine is not seized. Is there any easy way to try to spin it over with the car off?

I am guessing that the starter is not turning as much as needed. I will climb under the truck this evening to check all the connections on the starter and tap it with a hammer. Hopefully that gets it going again.

Seized or stuck starter.

To spin engine, put a breaker bar on the front crank bolt.

I will see if I can get a breaker bar on and socket on the front crank bolt. I know there is a big fan shroud in the way so it might be a bit of a challenge.

Hopefully knocking the starter gets it working. If not, how hard is changing a starter on a truck? If I can do it on a miata, could I do it on my truck? I can get failflora to come out with his sawzall if it is needed.

Starter on a V8 should be fairly simple. 3-4 bolts, some electrical connections.

I had what seems to be a similar issue with my 98 Cherokee. The end fix ended up being redoing the battery terminals. I had corrosion that was hidden within the terminal clamps, so I cut the cables and redid the clamps. All good now.

Worth checking, my clamps were easy to open up and check/redo.

I like the sound of that. It is something that I should be able to do if it needs to be replaced. I have the haynes manual for the truck, I just have not looked in it yet.

The battery terminals looked ok. There was a little corrosion, but not horrible. I will clean it off tonight and then try that again.

Battery connection/ starting solenoid. 99% sure

So with a quick google search of a starter solenoid, it appears to be the part on top of the starter that the wires and connectors attached to it. I am guessing I cannot just replace that. Time to start searching for what a replacement starter costs.

EDIT:
It appears that the starter solenoid is replaceable and only $17 at the local advance. If cleaning off battery terminals does not work it will be the next thing I try.

If you remove the starter, Advance or Autozone can bench test both the solenoid and the starter.

This.

But before you do that, try jumping the solenoid with a big screwdriver to see if starter spins.

It wont either way.

If this works I would be puzzled.
The only thing after that I would guess is the start signal wire.


Better yet.
Disconnect positive batter cable,
Jump positive battery straight to positive side starter.
Jump negative to starter case/ground nut.
(You can do one at a time if it works to determine which cable it is. Ground or positive.)

(it wont start obviously, but it should turn over if the solenoid is good)

If this works, its battery cables 100%.

If it still doesn't work its the solenoid/starter.

My terminals looked fine, issue was with the actual wire captured within the cable clamp itself.

I had a problem similar to this in an old datsun pickup. Rear bearing on the starter disintegrated. This allowed the starter core to c0ck sideways, and short out against the housing.

In the clip, you can hear it click, which I believe is the solenoid. The starter itself sounds like it engages, but jams up. Could be cables/connections like yellowhiss says, but I'm guessing it's the motor itself.

This is actually usually caused by a weak starter.
The load causes the wire to get hot, which increases the resistance in the wire itself. It creates even more heat to the point that even when cold, the wire cant handle the amps.

All your hearing is the plunger engaging, which requires very little amps.

I'm pretty sure he means jump across the higher current contacts of the solenoid in order to feed battery voltage directly to the starter motor to see if it will turn. This could tell you if the solenoid is not fully engaging or the contacts in the solenoid are bad, or of course if the battery connections themselves are not good.

Which is basically what you said to do but without having to string out wires from battery to starter motor, plus the bit of added danger from shorting out contacts with a screwdriver.

I think the safest and most surefire way is like yellowhiss said to do and run a wire straight from battery positive to the starter motor, you could even run one to the input side of the switched contacts on the solenoid, then jumper a signal wire over to see if the starter works as designed.

I love youtube. I should be taking it all apart tonight and taking the starter and starter solenoid up to advance to have them check.