24 volts to the starter?

[fordman]

this is a 88 F150 4.9 5 spd. i have changed otu the battery to a good one. had the alternator tested at three different places. two said it was good the third said it was bad. but they were using a hand held machine. and i am not sure the guy knew what he was doing. anyway. the new battery well its out of another truck. it worked fine in that V8 truck. had charge but the starter either would turn real slow or not at all until i jump it with my other truck. it wont jump any other way. my wifes car wont jump that truck. nor will a brand new battery sitting on the ground. i have cleaned and replaced battery terminal ends and done everything i can think of except change the starter. i do not really know what the problem is unless it is the battery cable ends. thats all i can think of. it cant be the starter. when i jump it it turns right over and the truck starts right up. and soemtimes i dont even have to jump the truck. it just gets lucky and starts as long as it doesnt sit too long. what are your opinions? is it just bad cable ends? if so how could it be they are clean and tight. i cleaned them again tonight when i got stuck uptown. but i still had to go get my other truck to jump it. my wifes car wouldnt jump it. the starter is a the older type not a mini starter.

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

if the truck has a distributor i would check the timing with the SPOUT shorting bar disconnected.. i can't remember if they still have a dist.

a quick way to test the battery/starter is to have a digital voltmeter connected to the posts of the battery while cranking. if the voltage drops below 10V then the starter is drawing too much current or the battery is defective

if you don't find anything there then you would test the batt. cables for excess resistance- connect one end of your voltmeter to positive batt. post and the other end of the meter to the post of the starter.. if the meter reads more than 1V then the cables are junk.

do the same thing on your ground cable

[basketcase0302]

Craig,
I would load test the battery, then maybe look at the TFI module (I believe the 88 would have one).
Does it "drag" or turn over just not seem to fire?

[70_F100]

Fordman, your post title makes me think you may have a misconception.

Just jumping it will not give 24 volts.

Using jumper cables, the two 12V batteries are connected in parallel.

To get 24V, you would have to connect them in series. To do that, you would have to connect the power lead to the positive post on one battery, the ground lead to the negative post on the second battery, and connect the remaining positive and negative posts together with another cable.

You DON'T want to do that on a 12V system, especially one with any electronics!!!

[ForingaMex]

[fordman]

when the truck finally starts. it runs fine. it isnt a firing problem. it is a cranking problem. and i'm not tring to hook it up to get 24 volts. it was just the best title i could think of last night. i am going to another place today and get them to test the system out. i am leaning towards bad cables or ends now. i know the battery is good. it has been in my 94 for a while and it worked fine in that truck. i was kind of thinking the starter may have been pulling too much last night when it would crank over. but that may have been a bad connection on the jumper cables. because once i adjusted them it turned over and started right up.

[fordman]

do you believe it. the stupid thing started right up with no problems this morning. i took it to another place and they confirmed the alt was good. so it has to be a cable problem some place. or maybe the starter is going bad. i will check it out though.

[cep62]

I've seen good looking cables that are corroded in the plastic sheath.

And if you have the aftermarket ends that clamp on the end of the cable they can have a lot of resistance.

[fordman]

update: after i got back from the testign place i shut it off. and then immediatly tried to start it. all it did was turn slowly like a dead battery. today after doing nothing at all to it. the truck turn slowly for a second and then started right up. sounds more and more like a bad starter after all. it doesnt want to work when its warm but works fine when it is cold. does that sound right?

[cep62]

A hot starter takes more amps to turn over.

so if you have a weak starter or inadequate cables it'll show up when it's hot.

[Hawkrod]

update: after i got back from the testign place i shut it off. and then immediatly tried to start it. all it did was turn slowly like a dead battery. today after doing nothing at all to it. the truck turn slowly for a second and then started right up. sounds more and more like a bad starter after all. it doesnt want to work when its warm but works fine when it is cold. does that sound right?

It sounded like a bad starter in your first post. When you have worn bushings in a starter the armature can drag on the field plates. It is worse when it is warm because the metal expands. Nothing out of the ordinary and I doubt cables or battery size will help. Hawkrod

[dssiegrist]

[70_F100]

Sounds to me like you have a bad connection somewhere...

[fordman]

i cant find it. unless it is on the starter realy. i didnt remove the cables from it. but i tried to move them. and they wouldnt move. they were bolted on tight.

[fordman]

i had thought of that myself. i couldnt find my good volt meter today. so i am going to try something else tomorrow and verify power to the starter to see where the problem is at. and get this truck reliable. i have jacked around long enough. its time to finish it up so i can do with it what i planned in the first place.