no crank no start after VCG--ran fine for a day--Starter wiring?

Hi folks,

No internet at my shop :((  So I will post at home...1985 f150 4.9, 2wd manual

I am trying to figure out a no crank/no start that happened almost, but not immediately, after I replaced my valve cover gasket.   She ran fantastically for a day or two, then all of a sudden would BARELY turn over, ONCE, then nothing.  No clicks, no crank, but full juice (tested at 12.6, newer battery, but topped it off anyway) I thought it might be an easy fix, like a ground wire or bad connection, since it almost started.... I put on new battery cables (had to be done anyways), new cables to the starter, 1 of 2 of the fusible links from the starter relay, and fiddled with a few possible loose/corroded wires here and there...
I had no starting issues before this.

But looking at the wiring diagrams both here and in my Chiltons I am pretty confused about the starter wiring.  Says I should have one ground and one red wire going between starter relay and starter...

but what I have is a thick black cable from starter relay to starter, and a thick black cable from neg battery terminal to the starter.  The small red push-on wire on the starter relay (or is it the solenoid??  Fender wall, right by battery) goes to a small round part on the side of the engine block, well away from the starter, and I can't find pics of it or find it in the wiring diagrams. What is it?? Could it be my problem?  And isn't there supposed to be some sort of wiring on the starter (solenoid?) itself on one of the two smaller posts?? I still have a no crank no start.

  I am also doing this by myself so I don't have anyone to try to crank it while I look at or test stuff or put screwdrivers in places that I probably shouldn't in the current drizzle, but I am super inexperienced with a voltmeter.  Like, I am about to buy my first one lol  

I feel super dumb because I know this is basic stuff, but when the manual doesn't spell it out I am kinda lost.  Any help would be appreciated.  All you people who grew up with uncles and dads (or moms!) who taught you, boy are you lucky :)--Bell

Did you leave the ground wire off from the back of the engine to the cab?  Frequently that wire comes from the valve cover to the firewall, but not always.  And if you don't have ground to the cab then a lot of things won't work.

As for the wiring, if it is "factory" you'll have a cable from the battery's positive post to the front terminal on the starter relay, another cable from the back terminal on the relay to the starter, and a small red/blue wire that pushes on to the small front terminal on the relay.  And then there will be a cable from the negative terminal to the engine and then on to one of the starter's retaining bolts.

That little wire is what triggers the starter and it comes from the ignition switch.  So one test is to pull that wire off the relay and use a screwdriver or pliers to jump from the front big terminal down to the little terminal.  That should pull the relay in and crank the engine.  BUT, if you have a manual transmission make sure it is neutral and the brakes are set.

But you may have a bad cable some where that is preventing it from cranking.  Sometimes they look good on the outside and are bad inside, so you can check that to some extent by pulling on them to see if they'll come apart - which they shouldn't do.

So you probably should pull all of the connections apart and clean them.  And while doing that check to see that the terminal appears to be well attached to the wire/cable.

UPDATE:

After replacing the battery cable connectors and still nothing, I went ahead and changed out the cables completely.  I also cleaned up the engine ground, as it was filthy from the valve cover leak...Nothing.  But I finally found a mobile mechanic to help me troubleshoot (can't test and crank at the same time!) and sure enough the ol' hammer to the starter got enough of a response to decide it's the starter.  And then the sky started dumping!  lol so, tomorrow hopefully.  The starter relay was ok I think, but who knows there may be something else.  

One question though:  you mentioned the wire or cable from terminal to the engine to the starter--you mean from the battery itself?  The cable that was on there just went straight to the starter, but clipped onto the block.  

There is only one small wire on the relay, the red snap on....but there is a random suspicious small black wire with brown or orange intermittent stripes coming from a bundle of wires around there that was sheared off.  Not sure if this is supposed to be a ground or what but I got lost in the diagram and have no idea.  

I really appreciate the feedback!   --Bell

Glad you are making progress.  

As for the cables, you should have two sets of cables:

Battery positive to the front terminal on the starter relay, and one from the back terminal on the relay to the starter.

Battery negative to the block and then to the starter's mounting bolt.  I think where you say it is clipped to the block you should find that "clip" is actually a terminal.

Gary Lewis wrote

Glad you are making progress.  

As for the cables, you should have two sets of cables:

Battery positive to the front terminal on the starter relay, and one from the back terminal on the relay to the starter.

Battery negative to the block and then to the starter's mounting bolt.  I think where you say it is clipped to the block you should find that "clip" is actually a terminal.

Gary the negative cable(s) on the 300 six goes from battery to a blot on the top of the frame rail then to the starter bolt.
This bolt also holds the positive cable from hitting the exhaust.

The factory negative cable had a flag welded to the cable in the center that bolted to the frame to ground the frame.
There is a 10ga wire off the block on the left side that goes to the firewall to ground the body / cab.
The motor side got its ground from the transmission bolted to it and the ground cable to the top starter bolt.

Mine has been wired that way from day 1 of the rebuild and other than a bad relay no problems.
Dave  ----

Thanks for that, Dave.  Obviously I don't know the wiring on the 300 six that well.  

well I finally got someone to whack on the starter for me and sure enough it wanted to turn over just enough to warrant a new starter.   By that point I had new battery cables too, so she is running pretty well!  Thanks for the help!  I am so glad everything so far had been pretty straightforward--but I feel like these trucks are like video games.  If you make it past one level, it just gets harder the next time.  Speaking of....I am pretty sure one of my motor mounts is failing

Well, that's a new one on me.  I've likened these trucks to onions - we keep peeling and crying, but pretty soon we have a Bloomin' Onion.  But I've not heard them compared to a video game where each level gets harder.  But, it does make sense.  

Anyway, glad you got it fixed - this time.