Went out maybe an hour ago and was just mocking up a stack setup with some extra pipe I had laying around and listening to the trucks radio. I was going to move the truck out into the yard but it wouldn't start. The first try it ran for about 5 seconds maybe then died. tried again, nothing. Had enough juice for a few tries then had to jump it with the van. That didn't work so I let the van charge it up for a few minutes and tried again. This time I checked my mirror to see if there was any smoke and none whatsoever and this truck usually smokes like a train when you start it. The truck started and ran fine all day long yesterday. I have plenty of fuel in the tank. I also had it plugged in because I noticed that it seems to help it start even when its warm out because of the air that gets in from my bad injector return lines. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

well, batteries need to have good charge on them. these motors need to spin good to start. also sounds liek air still in lines. any fuel leay in any system(supply or return) will cause hard starting.

 

I normally don't have too much trouble except when I can't plug it in at night. Sat all day at work yesterday and started just fine when I got off. I think these batteries are reaching their end. I've got my new return line kit but not sure whether I want to try to put it on myself or just let it go with the truck if this guy buys it and let him deal with putting it on. This is the first time that I've had trouble in nice warm weather. I'll go give her another try and see what happens.

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Got her going. Cycled the plugs, cranked for about 10 seconds, nothing. Waited a minute to reset plugs, cycled them again, cranked for a few seconds with WOT and she took off. Must of just been air in it.

 

Your batteries do sound pretty weak as well. What is the cranking amperage on them? When I got my truck it had two 3 year old 875CA batteries and if my truck didn't start on the 2nd or 3rd try, I was going to get jumper cables. You need batteries with a minimum 1000CA. When I replaced my batteries I was blown away by how much faster the motor spun. Weak batteries will also contribute to the early demise of your starter.

 

It needs the cable that runs between the 2 batteries replaced, its all corroded and pulling out of the terminal on one end. I think what's in it are 875CAs. They are physically 2 different sizes.

 

Schucks/O'reilly's can get you the battery cable. The cable for your truck lists at $122, but I am wondering if you could use the cable from a truck like mine. I think the newer cable may be a bit longer, but it has the same connections and only costs $80. Ford wanted $180 for my battery cable.

 

Its got plenty of length and the smaller bat is on that side but I was thinking just cut the end off, peel back the insulation, put a $2 terminal from the hardware store on it and call it good. Did that on our van and its worked just fine. I imagine that with new batteries, the correct size, that it should still be long enough to reach clear across the truck. I 'll check to see if I can fix the cable, I think I have a couple of the terminals laying around. But since I have a guy that's interested in buying the truck, I don't really want to sink a bunch of money into it then to have it sell. I'd rather put my money toward my next truck if this one sells.