Glad ya got it fixed! A lot of people piddle with that ground to the engine by the alternator & a lot of people leave dangling!

 

Any idea how that happened? (Just reinstall your original starter.)

Don't hate your life. Don't hate your truck.

 

you have to go back to the original post...or two. I just completed an entire top end job; which required me to pull all the ancillaries off the front....I assume I forgot to put the ground back onto the alternator frame...but if I did; why did it start and run for a week afterward?

the old starter was tested, fubar, at autozone and is gone for the core....

as far as hating the truck....I’ve had it for two years and I’ve literally redone almost everything; it might have been running a combined 3 months out of the entire time I have had it.

i just got the rear 1/4 frame in today so that I can try and salvage it from the rust bin. Frame is good from rear axle forward....but it’s rotten in the *** end.

it just seems like the work on this thing never ends...and I just want to pull my old jon boat....and go fishing.

I’ve had 5 vehicles since 1982; a 74’ Ford F100 that never broke down over 3 generations between my grandfather who originally bought it, my uncle who owned it next, and myself when I traded in in 1995 brand new Ford F-150....that I had until 2014. The only thing I ever had to do to that was replace tie rod ends and radial arm bushings; in 2004 I bought a new Ford Escape 4x4that I drove all across gods creation. It started to have problems 2 years ago...and I saw this; thinking “upgrade”....I should have taken the money I spent on this and just fixed the Escape.

and never left Fords behind......

 

Reason it was starting before...is because the starter seeked another ground source to complete circuit. 99.9% of the time...when the ground cable is bad...or left disconnected...the starter circuit seeks a ground through the parking brake cable. Usually works for a while, but eventually melts the small strands of cable (which freezes the cable within the outer brake cable housing).

Check your parking brake...it may be toast.

 

that may be the case in some instances; I checked my PB is good. I believe that the main ground was jammed against the engine block, completing the ground. When I stopped, it was in a parking lot that was full of pot holes; I think the bouncing around caused it to move and break the continuity.