Help Needed 96 7.3 no crank, no start

[smokin'jay]

i purchased a 1996 f-250 7.3 automatic with 214k miles on it. purchased from a friend i have worked with for 10 years and will work together for the next 15 so i believe his story.
he drove it to work one morning just fine and it would not start when he went to leave that same evening. cranked engine until batteries died and then towed home. sat for two months until i hauled it to my house today.
it will not crank with the key switch. get all lights including "wait to start light" acting normally. when i turn the key to start everything goes dark and i get no voltage drop on my fluke meter i hooked up to the batteries. i can jump across the starter solnoid and get it to crank but will not start. i get a little white smoke out of tailpipe doing this. truck has new glow plugs and new batteries. any help would be appreciated.

 

[DaveBen]

If you are getting smoke while cranking, you need to jump the truck to get more power to the starter. What is the voltage just standing and when you crank it?

Dave

 

[smokin'jay]

about 12.8vdc

 

[JLDickmon]

you have a couple different problems.
and you need to fix them as two different problems.

first, you need to figure out why the key won't energize the starter.
neutral safety switch, fuse/fusible link, bad relay, something... the starter is known good because you shorted it and it cranked..

smoke and no fire I would almost bet is a glow plug RELAY, but again, they have circuit protection devices that need to be verified...

 

[creeper]

i would check the starter solenoid on the fender first. make sure the little wire is still attached and is in good condition ( no corrosion) then check all your connections at the starter. rule out simple things first. if those are ok then check the fusible link in the positive battery cable. also try getting it to crank with the trans in all of the different gears. the range sensor could have moved. check to make sure the fuel heater isnt shorted inside the fuel bowl also.


for a crank no start on a truck with this many miles i would check the conditon of the glow plug system but i also wouldnt rule out low cylinder compression. have seen alot of higher mileage 7.3 with washed down cylinders. also have seen the lift pumps snap in half inside the block causing the same issue.

 

[smokin'jay]

sorry for being so late but i got my problems solved, sort of. the no crank was due to a defective neutral safety switch. the defective switch was caused by the previous owner jamming the shifter around on a siezed shifter cable. once i got it to crank, it took several cycles of the glow plugs to get it to start. a new glow plug relay took care of that. the only trouble i have now is a strong smell of fuel around the truck and sometimes in the cab. could there be a leak somewhere??