Click but no crank? Ideas?
 

Hey there, first post so thanks in advance for any help!

1989 F250 V8 5 Speed 4x4

Up until this evening, always started and ran strong. Have a load of landscape blocks. Pulled up, unloaded half, moved over to the other side of the house to unload the rest. Fired up fine, no hesitation. Turned off the engine, unloaded for 10-15 minutes and went to move again.

Click.

Battery is fine. Tried jumpstarting anyway. Tapped the solenoid and starter.

Click.

Tried jumping the starter from the solenoid by connecting the trigger and positive. Ignition on, in neutral and even clutch in.

Click.

Ideas for other things to check before I start buying parts?

Thanks again,

Troy

Put the headlights on. Have someone watch the headlites while you try to start it. If the lights go dim, starter is shorted.
If lights don't go dim either solenoid is defective , cable to starter is corroded or starter is open internally.

Ok, pulled the starter and took it in. It failed the bench test so picked up a new one.

Installed it.

Click, click, click, click

This time coming from the solenoid. Ran back, grabbed a new solenoid and some wire brushes. Cleaned all the cables and installed.

Click (back from near the starter)

Pulled the battery and replaced with my 27 series marine battery for my boat. Brand new and fully charged.

Same thing.

At an absolute loss. Any other ideas?

Everything goes dim when I try and start. This is with the new starter and solenoid. Thoughts?

Cables or ground connection.

Thanks for all your input. This was my next thought. Been doing some research. Any specifics from your experience where to start?

Thanks again,
Troy

Usually start right from the battery. Don't just look at the connections , loosen the fastening bolts/nuts and clean them while you are in there.

you might have two wires going to the starter the big one goes to the bolt on the starter and then you have a small one that clips via a blade connector or some other fashion connecting to the solenoid on the starter

You know, we take a lot of things for granted and the mention of the two simple wires sounds simple to those of us who do this every day, but to someone that is not absolutely sure, it is a good point to cover. Simple things like replacing a fuse and putting the replacement in the wrong slots can drive someone trying to help up the wall.
No one is exempt from making an occasional slip every now and then, most likely from overconfidence or fatigue. Anyway does the small wire at the starter solenoid have a good solid connection?

I hope it is a easy as just missing two simple wires!

The starter on this model on has one heavy gauge wire that leads to the fender mounted solenoid. The connections are good at both ends. I pulled the starter back out just to make sure. Some one had recommended see if the engine would manually turn. Due to its precarious position behind my house, I put in gear and gave it a push with my Jeep just a foot or so. Prior to that I marked the crank pulley and belt. After the push, they were not in the same position so it did move. Engine not seized. Just trying to rule everything out.

So if there is just one wire running from the solenoid to the starter, and if I try and jump the starter directly at the solenoid to no avail, what other wires should I check? Terminals at the batter are good and cleaned as well as all connections at the solenoid and starter.

I'm stumped?