97 F350 won't crank

[shakazulu12]

Drove fine yesterday, it normally fires right up. Went out this morning to start it and nothing. Hooked the batteries up and they are fully charged with good voltage, I can hear the starter relay clicking. No codes on my code scanner.

I would think if the starter was going bad, I would have noticed it before, but it always has fired right up in the past. Voltage isn't the issue, tests fine and the stereo/headlights etc all have full power. Starting to check grounds now, but wondering if anyone else has any ideas?

[forddieseldoctor]

Check powers and ground to stater. More than likely it is your starter. And yes they just up and die with no warning.

[shakazulu12]

Thanks a ton, looking up the diagrams now (My first powerstroke). Good thing I can walk to the parts store from my house.

[forddieseldoctor]

You have 3 wires down by the starter. There are a big one that goes to the starter solenoid. That one should have power all the time. Check it while having someone try to crank it. The little wire that hooks to the solenoid should only have power when the key is in the start position. Then there is the ground cable that is hooked to one of the mount bolts if my memory serves me right.

[shakazulu12]

Thanks a ton for the help. I checked the power in the wires and everything was fine. Removed the starter and solenoid. Hooked up power off a battery and nothing. Bypassed the solenoid and the starter worked fine. So I'm figuring it has to be the solenoid.

[forddieseldoctor]

Go with the whole starter and not just a solenoid. Most of the time the solenoid dies and the rest of the starter isn't far behind.

[shakazulu12]

Going to go the cheap route. The shop up the street from me has the solenoid right now (and is even dropping it off at my house). They want way too much for the starter though, I can order another starter and solenoid online for less than what they want for just the starter. I'll swap the starter and leave the extra solenoid and old starter in my truckbox just in case I ever get stranded. My truck is my only car at the moment and I have 4,000 pounds of crap in the back I need to dump today anyway.

Gotta say, working on this truck is 100x easier than my old M5 and even my Chevy Avalanche. Didn't even have to put it on jacks. two screws and 3 bolts and I was done.

[forddieseldoctor]

Yeah I've heard bad things about the avalanches. Never did too much on one myself.

[forddieseldoctor]

When I replaced my oil pan I damaged the large lug on my starter. I tried getting a new solenoid, but it was the wrong one and they couldn't get me the correct one. So I ended up replacing the whole starter.

[shakazulu12]

Thanks again, I got the solenoid and replaced it. She fired right up. Ordered a new starter and solenoid online and will replace the starter when it comes in as well and keep everything else as backups. If this had happened somewhere other than my driveway I would have been pretty pissed.