I have a 2004 F-150 STX 2WD with the 4.6L that I inherited from my grandfather this past winter. About 2 months ago, it had a really hard time shifting out of park, so I left it neutral with the keys in it. This naturally drained the battery, so I would just jump it off once a week and let it run. I picked up a brake light switch from O'Reilly's recently but have not installed it yet to see if it fixes the shifting issue.

Anyways, about a month ago I tried to jump off the truck and got nothing. No ticking or clicking, no sound. None of my gauges dimmed (cabin lights did not dim either), so it didn't act like there was a draw on the battery. I went and got the battery tested (it's fairly new from 2019) and it turned out to be fine. I disconnected the lines to the battery and starter and cleaned the connections and reattached. Still nothing.

Does this sound like a bad starter to anyone? I tried knocking the solenoid with a hammer and still could not get it to turn over.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

Sometimes fuses blow for unknown reasons and part of a good diagnostic procedure is to check all the fuses FIRST !
If possible invest in an inexpensive multimeter. You can also use a test lite to check fuses . It is much simpler and quicker. You can use either of those two to check switches, fuses and power coming to those components . Easy to do and worth your time and $$. Then if you test the switch or fuse you know right then and there if it is good or not and save replacing good parts which can get expensive and cause a lot of unnecessary work.

 

Don"t forget to check grounds I had the same issue it was the ground off the engine block