Truck wont Crank

[48dually]

Yesterday my 1999 expedition 5.4L quit in the road and was making some weird noises, before it died it started to jump forward then stall a little then do it again. the gauges went dead and the radio cut out. a sound from the bottom of the motor yelled a loud skreech.

i proceeded to replace the alternator and the battery and checked fuses, wire breaks, power, solenoids and have not come up with an answer. the truck only turns over when its jumped by another car. then today i had the new battery put in and it only clicks the starter solenoid on once and nothing happens.

I've hit the starter with a hammer, I've got power to the solenoid and when it closes it has power to the starter. when i try to start the headlights dim a little bit and the lights for the service engine soon, oil temperature and battery are on.

i do not know if the truck starts if jumped with new battery but i'm leaning towards a bad starter as when it was running on Thursday sounded as if the starter was still running with the engine on. once i turned the truck off the battery was completely dead and truck wouldn't start. any advice would be great I've also tried to start in neutral and moving the shifter handle slowly. please help, I've ran out of ideas besides replacing starter.

Thanks, Jamison

 

[stamp11127]

If the starter did stay engaged it turned itself into a generator and may have overheated since it doesn't have cooling. I would verify 12+ volts at the starter when cranking.

 

[Mediamonkey11]

The screech sounds at least in conjunction to all other symptoms seems to be indicative of a starter issue...

 

[48dually]

i will check the power from cable to starter first, i checked the power when cranked on the solenoid and had received power on the starter side but if i get power at starter then im going to give it a go tomorrow and try to pull the starter off and check it. ill bring it to get tested at one of the parts dealers. hopefully it will come off without a hitch. could there be anything else that might be drawing away the amperage from the ignition system preventing the starter from receiving it? or is it a 95% chance its the starter gone bad? has 140K miles on it
Thanks, Jamison

 

[stamp11127]

Check the battery voltage first. That way you will know what you should read at the starter.
Nothing in the circuit that will bleed the amps other than high resistance in the cables. You may also want to do a voltage drop test on both the positive and negative sides of the starter circuit.

 

[48dually]

Well, pulled the starter and had it checked. It was good and voltage was good so I'm stumped

 

[stamp11127]

What were the voltage and resistance readings?

 

[48dually]

i dont remember what the voltage and resistance was im going to have to check it again to let you know

 

[stamp11127]

When you have a starter or alternator tested at one of the "autoparts stores" that don't offer machine shop services I wish you luck. Most of them don't understand what they are doing - put "a" here and press the button. Pass or fail on what the machine says.

Did you see your starter spin? Did you see the starter gear come forward in the nose housing? If you did then you are not getting the required voltage & amperage for the starter. Also keep in mind the ground side of the circuit needs to be in good shape.

Do you know how to do voltage drop testing?

 

[48dually]

Yes i saw the motor spin and the bendix did come out. when i put the ground back on the starter i made sure to clean the ground. no i dont know how to do a voltage drop test.

 

[stamp11127]

Look in the electrical section in the sticky area for a video link on how to do the vd test.