You can get your battery load tested and in about 15 seconds it will tell you if the battery needs replaced. I've had bad solenoids that were brand new as well. Another test you can do if the starter is out is connect up the starter to booster cables and either hold it very firmly by your foot on the ground or place it in a good vice to see if it spins well. Ford starters will engage the Bendix drive any time current is run through the starter fields so there is lots to see when you do a "bench test" like this. Just hook up the ground to the negative terminal on the battery and the starter housing, hook up the positive to the positive connector on the starter then just touch the other positive cable end to the battery positive and hang on. They got lots of torque.
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i my self am voting on the starter. do you have a different soleinoid you could try just to rule that out??
And fastedsel isnt kidding about the amount of torque that these starters have.
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WOOOT!! i passed my mechanics classes. Now working as a mechanic and waiting to go for my ASE certifications.
Every do it yourself mechanic should have some basic electrical tools. A test light and a volt/ohm meter. They are inexpensive. You need them to test systems and not just guess.
Starters can bench test ok and not spin an engine. Most tests are just a free running test and not a loaded test. I had a starter that turned my old tired engine fine but would not crank it after a rebuild.
Turn on the headlights and see if they dim considerably when you attempt to start it. If so that would mean excessive draw or a weak battery. If the change is very slight it means something isn't making contact.
You might want to take the battery in and have it tested. Slow charge it over night first.
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seattle67 wrote:Chris, did you ever make any progress on this?
yes i did. i think, although i can't confirm because i'm an idiot, that it was a combination of a low battery, bad ground cable, and bad positive cable from the battery to the solenoid. i did buy a new starter and that got me from the rapid clicking to a 1/360th of a rotation of the engine before the rapid clicking of the solenoid resumed. i charged the battery over night with a trickle charger. cleaned all the cables and grounds and finally got it to fire the next day. i need to learn more about electrical stuff. it's pretty much voodoo to me, kinda like automatic transmissions and women.
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seattle67 wrote:Chris, did you ever make any progress on this?
yes i did. i think, although i can't confirm because i'm an idiot, that it was a combination of a low battery, bad ground cable, and bad positive cable from the battery to the solenoid. i did buy a new starter and that got me from the rapid clicking to a 1/360th of a rotation of the engine before the rapid clicking of the solenoid resumed. i charged the battery over night with a trickle charger. cleaned all the cables and grounds and finally got it to fire the next day. i need to learn more about electrical stuff. it's pretty much voodoo to me, kinda like automatic transmissions and women.
I am an Electrician and a few days ago my truck would start cold but after the next start attempt it would not start. Forced Autozone to replace my battery on warranty, replaced the Positive cable. Checked the ground on the engine with my meter to the chassis. Checked the battery it was good. Tested the starter with jumper cables it was good. Going nuts while at Autozone I decided to change the negative battery cable to the chassis point where I have the engine ground attached. Bang it was fixed. There was a thin film of corrosion between the cables causing my starter to go click click hum. I only changed that negative cable because it was one of those battery terminals that had the two bolts to hold the cable to the terminal.
All I had to do was measure with my meter from the engine to the negative battery post and it would have shown as a high resistance point.A bolted wire to terminal or to another wire should never show more than 1 ohm of resistance. One Ohm of resistance in a 12V systems takes 12 amps of current to get past the 1 ohm of resistance.
Add up two or three 1 ohm resistance points and you get too little current to the starter.
The Ford starter draws 150 to 200 amps normally 460 on Max load which happens when resistance is present or the engine is frozen. 200 Amps * 12 Volts is 2400 Watts
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I've had bad solenoids that were brand new as well. Another test you can do if the starter is out is connect up the starter to booster cables and either hold it very firmly by your foot on the ground or place it in a good vice to see if it spins well. Ford starters will engage the Bendix drive any time current is run through the starter fields so there is lots to see when you do a "bench test" like this. Just hook up the ground to the negative terminal on the battery and the starter housing, hook up the positive to the positive connector on the starter then just touch the other positive cable end to the battery positive and hang on. They got lots of torque.
