# ford truck won't start when hot



## retire2$ (Feb 12, 2003)

I have a 94 Ford F-150 with a 300 cubic inch engine with 225,000 miles. When you drive a distance (30 miles) and you shut the engine off it will not restart. When you turn the key it just clicks like the battery is dead. If you wait half hour or so and then try it again the truck will start. I have replaced the plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, ingition module, and starter. I had the starter (which was the original) checked at Autozone and they confirmed the starter was bad. Any suggestions or thoughts on what the problem may be?


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## citxmech (Dec 26, 2011)

Does that Ford have a remote starter solenoid (ie not attached to the starter itself)? If so, I'd try replacing that. Sounds like some electrical component is getting hot and failing intermittently. The other possible culprit is the battery itself. To rule that out you could swap in a known good battery or have a shop load-check your current battery.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

It's probably one of your temperature sensors. I'll have to ask dh because I'm not sure exactly which one was bad on our van but it did the same thing. It was fine if you drove to work and let it set for 8 hours but it was no good for running around and shopping.

Maybe manifold air charged temp sensor. He won't get home until midnight but I'll ask when he does get home.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

If its just solenoid clicking, you arent getting enough currant to the starter. Look for corroded ground connection (where negative battery cable bolts to engine). I had this problem on my little Ranger some time ago, until I hunted up one of those hardened prickly star washers to use between cable end and where it bolted to engine. Just enough corrosion would build up there. And boy it was a bugger to track down that first time, just never occured to me to look for corrosion there. After first time, it was easy next time to know where to look. As I say, eventually got annoying enough I specifically hunted up one of those washers made for this purpose, the little points on them dig into the softer metals and keep contact even with some corrosion.

Or you could have a weak battery or battery isnt getting full charge. Or bad battery cable. I assume you have cleaned your battery terminals?

My big clue that it was corrosion of some sort on one of cables was when I tried to jump start it with zero results. I could have had a battery big as a mountain and currant flow would still have been bottlenecked by that corrosion.


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## davel745 (Feb 2, 2009)

There used to be a electronic module for the ignition that when bad would act like that. Very easy to replace.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

davel745 said:


> There used to be a electronic module for the ignition that when bad would act like that. Very easy to replace.



If I am understanding the OP post, he is saying the STARTER IS NOT ENGAGING, the starter solenoid is just clicking like with a very weak battery. If the starter isnt turning the engine, then what the ignition is doing doesnt matter.



> When you turn the key it just clicks like the battery is dead.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Clean all the battery connections and read the voltage of the battery when attempting to start. Either the voltage is low from a bad battery or the starter has bought the farm.


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## davel745 (Feb 2, 2009)

HermitJohn said:


> If I am understanding the OP post, he is saying the STARTER IS NOT ENGAGING, the starter solenoid is just clicking like with a very weak battery. If the starter isnt turning the engine, then what the ignition is doing doesnt matter.


I guess i didnt read too good


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## pipedreamer (Jan 23, 2012)

Also look and see if you have a heat shield around or at the starter sometimes the exhaust will get an old starter too hot ,they have a harder time conducting 12 volts thru them.the fact that you wait for a while and it finally starts could be a over heated starter .just throwing possibilities at you .


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## Robotron (Mar 25, 2012)

Turn on the headlights. Try to start van. Observe the lights while trying to start. If they stay bright or dim slightly, problem in the starting circuit. If the dim greatly or go out problem with battery or connections. Quick way to split problem in half.


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## citxmech (Dec 26, 2011)

HermitJohn said:


> If its just solenoid clicking, you arent getting enough currant to the starter. Look for corroded ground connection (where negative battery cable bolts to engine). I had this problem on my little Ranger some time ago, until I hunted up one of those hardened prickly star washers to use between cable end and where it bolted to engine. Just enough corrosion would build up there. And boy it was a bugger to track down that first time, just never occured to me to look for corrosion there. After first time, it was easy next time to know where to look. As I say, eventually got annoying enough I specifically hunted up one of those washers made for this purpose, the little points on them dig into the softer metals and keep contact even with some corrosion.
> 
> Or you could have a weak battery or battery isnt getting full charge. Or bad battery cable. I assume you have cleaned your battery terminals?
> 
> My big clue that it was corrosion of some sort on one of cables was when I tried to jump start it with zero results. I could have had a battery big as a mountain and currant flow would still have been bottlenecked by that corrosion.


Good call on checking all the grounds and cables. I've had a few cable actually get loose at the crimp due to corrosion and heat-cycling.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I like the heat shield suggestion somebody posted. Did this just start happening out of the blue one day? Or did you buy this truck and it had this problem? If it had a heat shield protecting the starter and that fell off or rotted away.... I have two trucks with the 300, but neither of them came from factory with a 300 so when I welded up exhaust, I made sure it didnt hug the starter. Not sure how factory routed the exhaust especially on the fuel injected versions. Never had a starter heat problem on any old American straight six, but the fuelie versions may had everything compacted together more than carb versions and used heat shield.

Thinking about it the fuelie versions had two exhaust manifolds, each for bank of three cylinders, they each had exhaust going back to a Y pipe. Now where all that happened in relation to starter I dont know. I only know about the exhaust as some that want to hotrod carb version of this engine, like to use the fuelie exhaust manifolds. They flow better than the carb exhaust manifold and nearly as well as an aftermarket header. Ford at one point was even thinking of an aluminum cross flow head for this engine. There are some rare factory prototypes that survived in hands of collectors.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Dh said the first place he would check is the solenoid that's on the firewall. But he also said he can't remember for sure what is was that went bad on the van.


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## pipedreamer (Jan 23, 2012)

I had a 1970 chevy cst truck with a 396 that I bought from my brother it ran great until one day it left me stranded with no cell phones back then I waited about a half an hour before a California highway stopped and asked what the problem was .won't start sir,give it a try and it fired right up .he looked under the hood and said he had 70 1 ton just like it he said he kept a bottle of water in the truck and when the starter over heated from the exhaust he poured water on the starter ,I did that to 2 months until i could afford a starter and heat shield kinda brought back old memories when the wide was pregnant and I was a apprentice plumber in the union .I hope you get it going your way.


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## retire2$ (Feb 12, 2003)

UPDATE. Thank you all for your suggestions. The problem seems to have been the battery. 

I will fill in the time line and answer some of your questions for general information about the truck starting problem. I bought the truck new. About 2 months ago the truck would intermittantly not turn over when you turned the key on. If you hit the key a few times it would turn over and start. I removed the starter and had it checked at Autozone. It came back as defective. The starter (which was the original) was replaced and the engine cranked over when you tried to start the vehicle. At the time of the starter replacement my son also replaced the spark plugs, ignition wires, cap and rotor in the vehicle as it had a slight miss and the last time they were replaced was over 100,000 miles ago. About this time is when the truck would not start after driving it 35 miles, shutting it off and trying to restart until it had time to cool off (half hour or more). The coil was over 7 years old so my son replaced the coil. This did not solve the problem for restarting a hot engine. It was suggested to replace the ignition module so this was replaced without correcting the problem. I did not think it was the battery because my son tried jump starting the truck when it was hot and it would not start or turn over. When my son came home the other day and shut off the engine it would not start. I had another battery and used it to swap out the battery that was in the truck. The truck, which was still hot, started right up. I purchased a new battery and placed it in the truck on Friday. My son, who has been using the truck, came by today and said the truck has been starting fine. 

Thanks again for all your suggestions.


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## bikehealer1 (Oct 8, 2009)

One thing people do not realize is that batteries are a wear item just like any other in a vehicle. Yes, they can last a long time, but they do eventually "wear" out. I run into batteries at work all the time that will crank a bike cold, but take a few more revolutions to crank or the engine catches after you let off the starter. Hermitjohns ground suggestion was my first thought after reading the beginning post. I have also experienced factory cables going bad where the cable goes into the crimp, yet never show a bit of corrosion. Glad you got your problem solved.


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## Travis in Louisiana (May 14, 2002)

Retire2, thanks for the update. I always like to hear how a problem was solved.


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## pipedreamer (Jan 23, 2012)

I'm not sold on a new battery,in my opinon the problem might revisit you.the battery (if it is a bad starter) will loose its Cranking amps because of resistance thru the starter.if this problem comes back in a couple of months point the finger at the starter . If it doesn't well shame on my opinon.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

pipedreamer

I fully agree that the starter is the true problem! The battery has just over shadowed the problem.


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## retire2$ (Feb 12, 2003)

In my original post I stated that I had the starter checked and it was defective. I then replaced the starter but the problem of not starting continued. After I replaced the battery I have not had any problem starting the truck when it is hot. I will give an update in a few months if the problem returns. Thanks for all your comments and recommendations.


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