starter for 95 F350, solenoid + relay???

Hi guys,

Bad electrical gremlins on my 95 crew cab. Changed battery due to "no start" and corroded cables. Parts store was closed, so I stuck a big Exide I had on hand to replace the tiny Wal-Mart thing that was in the truck. Cleaned terminals of the battery, relay on the fender, and the easy grounds near the battery and firewall; the truck started right up. Turned on the headlights, and it died, not restarting at all.

Headlights do not dim when I hit the key, just clicking. Battery has 12.8 volts at rest, and I noted 14.85 while running. Looks like the horrible positive cable (spliced with a hose clamp, for one thing) goes from what I would have a solenoid on the starter to the positive batt, then it apparently "V's" onto both lugs of what I would have called the starter relay on the inner fender.

Aside from the weird voltage drop when I turned on the headlights, my plan was to buy a new starter and relay (and, that nasty hose-clamped cable). But they all want $130-$180 for that goofy starter with a solenoid. What's wrong with the more traditional starter and relay on the fender? Seems like those are more like $50-$70, and $15 for the relay. Any reason why the "old school" stuff wouldn't work for my truck?

When I say electrical gremlins, the previous owners had alarms, stereos, and extra lights all over this thing. I changed out the steering column due to bad bearings, and was greeted with about 400 butt-connectors from him changing it once before, evidently. Lots of "opportunities" with this beast. Yay, me.

Thanks!!
Pete

http://www.dbelectrical.com/ part number. 336-1169

There is nothiong wrong with the fender mounted starter relay setup. A million plus Ford trucks have them. I like the setup, its easy to test and if a part fails it is cheaper to replace.

From you description it sounds like the fender mounted solenoid is being by-passed (you describe a jumper accross the two large posts) and the starter has the solenoid on it. I think the real issue is that you have a bad connection and/or battery cable. You can test the cable and connections easily with a voltmeter (measure voltage drop). Put the positive meter cable on the postive post of the battery and the negative meter lead on the starter terminal (where the bat cable connects) crank the engine. if the meter reads more than .5 volts you have a bad connection or cable. Then start moving the meter neg lead to the next connection towards the battery (in your case the post on the fender mounted solenoid (if I am visulaizing your setup correctly). Crank again if the voltage drop is now less you know the problem is in the cable between the solenoid and the starter. Then move neg lead to the other connection on solenoid (moving towards battery) until you test voltage drop at all connections and for all cables. Do the same for the negative side.
Good luck

Thanks guys!

The good and the bad of it.

The solenoid is just a switch. It allows a low amperage signal to permit a high amperage load to the starter motor.

The good of the starter mounted solenoid, is the limit in resistance and or circuit failure with a 1" conection. Fewer parts and pieces and wires under the hood, and ease of assembly. Espeacially on those engines that might be run on a Test stand.

The down side to the starter motor mounted soleniod is the enviroment where it lives, wrapped by engine, and exhaust, its in a very high heat enviroment, and as a switch, it aint the best place for it. Now most modern hi torque starters are starter and soleniod integrated.

The fender mounted solenoid works great, removes the switch from the heat, and also offurs a power point attachment where you don't need to run wires to the corrosive area of the battery itself.

The bummer is the starter motors offured (numbers dwindling) are still designed as low torque, low speed starters. Modern engines with oil pressure start prevents etc....... don't like em.