Starting/Charging head scratcher

[2003bmtf150]

My '03 F150's starter solenoid just clicked away when my wife tried to crank it couple days ago. Jumped it and drove home from Wally World and no issues since with that. Checked Alternator output, it's 14.05 volts. Battery is 3 year old DieHard with 12.5 volts. Now upon starting all gauges peg to max (speedo.,RPM, gas, water, batt., temp.) and SLIGHTLY sluggish turning over. Thought it might be Voltage Regulator issues. It appears the first stop with hot battery cable is a starter solenoid on firewall, but one is on the starter. Are there 2? Or is the one on the firewall a solenoid? Where's the Volt. Reg.? I'm puzzled, but not stranded. Feedback greatly appreciated.

 

[blacksnapon]

My '03 F150's starter solenoid just clicked away when my wife tried to crank it couple days ago. Jumped it and drove home from Wally World and no issues since with that. Checked Alternator output, it's 14.05 volts. Battery is 3 year old DieHard with 12.5 volts. Now upon starting all gauges peg to max (speedo.,RPM, gas, water, batt., temp.) and SLIGHTLY sluggish turning over. Thought it might be Voltage Regulator issues. It appears the first stop with hot battery cable is a starter solenoid on firewall, but one is on the starter. Are there 2? Or is the one on the firewall a solenoid? Where's the Volt. Reg.? I'm puzzled, but not stranded. Feedback greatly appreciated.

Load test the battery. A battery can have more than enough power to operate your gauges, but still fall way short of starting it. Check all grounds and connections as well. A defective starter that draws too much amperage will more than likely show up when it gets hot (after an extended drive).

 

[2003bmtf150]

Starting/charging head scratcher

Well, after letting the truck sit about four days tending to other business, the battery went to 10.0 volts. Installed a spare 535 CCA Walmart spare and the problem cleared up. The spare battery wasn't as wide and a little taller so I disconnected it a couple of times to put a wood block in the battery tray. Upon install, and again those couple of times disconnecting it, I turned the key and the gauges momentarily maxed out when I turned the key. I can only surmise this occurs each time sufficient starting voltage is applied and the computer powers up in some type of self test. I found this to happen on the General Motors EMD locomotives I maintain on my job. Modern technology, go figure. Any clarification/verification on this would be appreciated. Thanks for the suggestion and help.