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

[juicehedgehog]

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!

[landyacht]

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.

[fry628]

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!!!

[juicehedgehog]

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