cJAY

Every now and then, my engine will not start. When i turn the key, it sounds like the battery is dead. a quick click and then nothing. The batteries are fine and charged, just no start. I hooked up a jump box to the battery the still no luck. Then i hooked the jump box to the engine (good ground on the starter bolt, and the positive on the positive terminal where it enters the engine) and it started right up. This is telling me that I have a lose wire getting to the engine. I am guessing a bad ground.

Has anyone had this issue? Any suggestion on where to start tracking this own?

yammi250

Haven't had this issue but I would check the connections at the battery switch ....make sure they are clean and tight.

Corndog38

Get a volt meter and a helper. Take hood off motor and put meter on where both batt cables land on the motor. Watch reading, have helper turn key. If it just clicks and volts stay up (12.5 or so), you have a solenoid or starter problem. If it goes down to near zero, you have a bad connection between motor and batt. Then put pos probe on starter lead. Helper turns key. If volts go up to 12 and no start, starter problem.

Just walk through the whole circuit with the meter and find where volts are and where they are not. That is how you find the problem.

captbone

Physically touch and tighten every connection between the engine and the battery.

WolpackVO

Ground wire on engine......had it happen to multiple f350s

cJAY

Great advise! Thank you guys. I will work on it as soon as my helper gets home from school.

cJAY

Update: When I read the multi-meter touching the connection where power connects to the engine I get 13 +/- volts even while trying to crank. If I read the ground from the started, I get go down to 1-0 volts. So the issue is on the engine side. Not sure the next steps.

cJAY

When i jump from the ground where it attaches to the block to the bolt on the started, it will crank. So it is def a ground issue.

WolpackVO

Mine were easy, just had to tighten the bolt that was holding the ground wire in

fletchffletch

I was having the same problem with my Yamaha F200 for the first month I owned it, and it was driving me crazy. Finally figured out that one of the battery cables in the engine was loose. Tightened it down, and no problems since.