Didn’t you say somewhere along the way that you replaced the solenoid? It could be bad although usually a solenoid dies and stays dead.
What I would do if it were me is stick a volt meter on the starter pole of the solenoid and see if it’s getting 12 volts when the key is turned to the start position. That would tell us if it’s an issue before or after the signal to start is sent from the keyswitch.
Skip
Skip,
I hooked up my volt meter to the fender solenoid poles, and it read 13v with no key in. When I moved the key to ACC it dropped to 12v. When I turned the key forward to start, it stayed at 12v.
I also hooked the volt meter up to the battery, and it gave me the same readings as from the fender solenoid, when going through the same steps.
(I did replace the fender solenoid with a new Motorcraft part)
Can you get a reading on the small pole where the ignition wire comes into the solenoid? Your solenoid should have 3 wires on it. 2 heavy wires that go to the battery and the starter and a small wire that comes from the key switch that causes the solenoid to energize the starter. This pole should be open when the key isn’t energizing the starter and 12 something volts when it’s turned to the start position. That tells you that the key is in fact sending the voltage to connect the solenoid.
12 volts is real low on these batteries they should be 13.9 or so unloaded. When you turn the key to the on position is the glowplug light coming on? The glow plugs will pull the battery voltage down a lot, they take a lot of power to run, essentially, glow plugs are like an electric stove eye as we call it down here, you might call it a burner or something else. They are just little heaters that heat up when energized. Usually, they’ll draw 100 amps or so for 8 of them.
I will say this, I have gotten brand new solenoids that were either bad from the get go or didn’t last long. That’s a rarity, but it happens. If the key is energizing that small pole, I’d give that a good possibility if the key switch is energizing the solenoid. It could be the starter, but unlikely since it starts when you cross the solenoid poles.
One thing to be sure and check is the ends on the cables going from the battery to the solenoid, solenoid to the starter and the small wire end on the key switch lead. Make sure they haven’t shaken loose in the ends and are making good contact.
Skip
I slid the third pole “bootie” up far enough to get the positive volt meter wire on the post, and put the negative volt meter wire on the large solenoid negative post. With the key NOT in the ignition, there was no reading on the volt meter. When I moved the key forward to ACC, there was no change on the volt meter. When I turned the key all the way forward, like trying to start the vehicle, the meter still did not change.
I don’t have a “glow plug light”, but there is a “WAIT TO START” light that comes on when the key is pressed forward to ACC. I believe this is the same thing that you’re speaking of, letting the glow plugs heat up.
Please let me know if I did the solenoid check correctly, and I’ll go from there.
Thanks,
EdPut the negative lead on a ground or the battery negative post. You would have been in series the way you had it hooked.
Wait to start is the glow plug light. Curious, is it staying on longer than normal?
Skip
Okay, checked it again with the negative wire on the negative battery post, and on a local ground bolt. Either way, the volt meter needle did not move when trying to start the vehicle.
The “Wait to start” light has not been staying on for a longer, or shorter period of time.
EdThat narrows it down to coming from the key switch. (otherwords, solenoid is probably good)
We know the key is good, and it appears to be working because the glow plugs are coming on, so it’s got to do with something preventing it from starting.
Another test.
Put the tranny in neutral not park and see if it starts? Try it in park, but shake the shifter a little while turning the key to the start position.
Skip
Tried the “jiggle the handle” trick, and tried neutral, D, R, etc…But nothing worked. I’ve got an '89 F350 4x4 with a sloppy shifter, that sometimes responds to a wiggle, but not with the Ex.
The key switch wire that attaches to the solenoid’s third post goes into a wire loom just a few inches away from the solenoid, then heads off towards the driver’s side of the vehicle. Should I undo some of the loom near the solenoid to see what the key wire looks like, and then try to find where it is near the steering column, inside the Ex, to check the connectivity?
Or is there something else that should be checked first?
EdThis is getting to be an aggravating cuss ain’t it? 
Yeah, you are going to have to figure out why the key isn’t energizing the solenoid. Tracing that wire back to where it comes from is the start of it. All of mine have been Manual trannys and I haven’t had one that had the theft key with this sort of problem so I’m not as familiar with the workings of that as I should be to be more helpful.
I know on the clutch/manual version, the starter wire from the key switch goes down the column and through the clutch switch so it won’t crank unless the clutch pedal is pushed in. there’s a bundle of wires with a plug that comes out of the column, if you can figure out which one is the starter wire, you could check the voltage there and see if it’s triggering from the key switch itself. From that plug it probably goes through the fuse box, likely the one under the hood to one of the large fuses and then I know without the theft key interrupt, it’ll go to the solenoid, with it, I’m not sure where it goes. There are 2 ways that key thing could prevent the engine from starting and 1 additional that it could keep it from going very far. It could stop it from starting by 1. Disabling the HUII injectors 2. By disabling the starter. It could keep it from going far by disabling the electric fuel pump (I’d hate to be involved in that aggravation as it would air lock the fuel system, see my first post.) Since you are powering your glow plugs, I can’t help but think that it’s not disabling the injectors. I believe it would be on the same circuit.
I would definitely check any fuse associated with the starter according to the manual.
I would say past this, and I hate quitting on it, it’s going to have to be more hands on than possible on a forum. Otherwords, you are probably going to have to find a shop that’s good at tracing electrical issues. Hopefully one that knows something about these engines. An alternative might be to install a momentary push button switch under the dash to operate the starter. You would stil need to turn the key on, cycle the glow plugs them push the starter button in.
Skip
Any chance there’s a fusible link somewhere in the line running to the column from the fender solenoid key post?
IThe OP stated “and nothing” “not cranking”. He must mean no starting. It is not to much for the public to learn the difference between not cranking and not starting. But I have no hope they ever will. I just wish Service Advisors people should know and let this knowledge reflect in their repair orders. By reading the other posts I am not sure did the OP mean no cranking or no starting. The long blog from Skipper makes me think he (Skipper) gave advice in regards to a no start concern. Some of the other blogs treated it as a no crank concern what gives?Iam speaking of the first blog by Skipper It seems by the end of the blog this turned out to be a actual no crank. The initial you ran out of gas you have air in the system threw me
Vehicle does not crank when key is turned to start. No power is getting to key switch post of fender solenoid/relay.
Any chance there’s a fusible link somewhere in the line running to the column from the fender solenoid key post?
Yeah, when I first read the post, I thought he’d ran it out of fuel since there was a lot of information on it and draining the fuel filter bowl, Somewhere along the way I admitted I’d miss read it.
As far as a fusible link somewhere, I’m sure there is. It would have to be a rather large fuse though, like a 30 to 50 amp I would think.
I know there’s at least 2 fuse boxes on these things. One is under the dash around the steering column, the other is under the hood between the air filter and the brake cylinder. I can’t immagine the fuse being an inline deal it’s probably in one of those boxes. I sold mine a couple months ago, so I don’t have it to go look at to figure out which one. The Ex has a lot more gadgets on it than mine did anyway, so it’s probably not close to the same as far as the fuses go. I know I had a fuel bowl heater short out once and mine shut down running about 80 mph on the interstate with a tractor behind it. The heater popped a fuse in that long box between the air filter and brake cylinder. That box has all sorts of large goofy looking fuses in it. They aren’t cheap either. I found my fuse pretty quick, but went through about 4 or 5 before we figured out what was shorting the works out. They were like 5 bucks each or something outrageous like that. I’d suspect the starter fuse is in there for the simple fact, those are higher amperage fuses than the ones under the dash.
Did you trace the solenoid wire back to find out where it goes to?
Skip
Was thinking more along these lines for a “fusible link”, not an actual fuse. May be too outdated to be used on a 2000 year model though.
http://www.alanhorvath.com/54chevy/fusible_links.php
Haven’t had time to trace the wire yet, but it’s on the short list.
I’ve never seen anything like that on one. Doesn’t mean it’s not there, just something I’ve never seen. I figure there’s a regular fuse on it somewhere kind of like the one on my tractor’s switch only I’m sure they put it in a fuse box and not just dangling under the dash like I did when I rewired the tractor .
Skipper