excuse me if this double posts... but I have a problem

That's why I'm here. I have a 1983 F-150 5.0 litre. I parked it one night (a few days ago in fact) and it was running fine. That night got extremely cold (it does that here in Canada ;p) and it wouldn't start the next morning. I figured it was just cold. A can of ether later, and a dead battery, we still had a dead truck. I thought the lines were frozen, so I waited for it to get close to freezing, and tried again. Still no luck, took off the air cleaner, looked in, and the fuel was flowing freely. I have spark on all cylinders too... I replaced the distributor cap, coil wire and plug wires, as well as two plugs (I broke them during inspection ^.^;) just in case. Still nothing. The solenoid and starter wire overheats very quickly, I burned my finger on the stupid thing. There's one more symptom, though I don't know if it's related. I have a small emergency light that plugs into the lighter socket, I was using it to see the night the truck died. I tried to use it again today, but the light didn't come on and the wires got super hot... it may be related, but how?

Anyway, that's my story. I really appreciate any help you guys can give me... I need a vehicle for a new job that I start next week, this is very important that I get this thing running again. Thanks!

I'm in Canada... i know how you feel!

You already said that the starter is good? So when you boost the thing and go to turn the motor over does it turn or make a noise or is it just dead?

I'm assuming it's just dead...

I think other then the starter is the possibility of the alternator having gone. It went in my car just *snap* like that when i was driving down the road with no warning.

Finally, it's rare but not impossible, the motor siezed?? If you canturn it over that's not the case. After a few days i imagine the thing isn't flooded anymore....

Excuse my randome thoughts, but check those 2 things and see if you can't truly determine the issue.

An 83 I believe has a ignition module on the side of the distributor that sometimes goes bad and there is a sensor inside the distributor that goes bad. Both thing control the timing of the spark (i.e. you can get a spark and still no start). The only way to replace the sensor inside is to replace the whole assembly. Sorry!!!

thanks for your replies, Landy and Fry... the motor does indeed turn over, there is spark, and fuel... It's definitely not the starter. Oi, I really don't want to replace the whole distibutor. But if that's what it comes to... another visit to Canadian Tire it is! ;p