My trusty F-150 has developed a mysterious ailment that has me and my mechanic stumped. After replacing the alternator and battery a couple of months ago I began to have starting problems. Without warning, or any apparent reason I would turn the key and a weak rrrrrr that sounds like a dead/dying battery, not enough juice to actually turn over the V-6 followed by a buzzing sound. Now when this happens I just roll a few feet and pop the clutch and she fires right up...if you are parked somewhere that one guy can hump a 4,000 lb truck to roll. Once it starts it restarts and runs just fine all day.

Here is the weird part. I pop the clutch, truck starts right up. If I immediately shut it down and then turn the key it cranks right over like a new battery. No way ten or fifteen seconds of running recharged the suspect battery, right? I'm thinking a problem with the solenoid or starter, bad ground, broken wire; any one of which could create my intermittent starting problem. Mechanic says they all check out fine.

Next he says the original factory stereo is bad, has a short and is pulling the battery down. Disconnect the stereo and the current drain disappears. Replace the stereo and everything is fine for two weeks then three days in a row we are back to the same old won't start in the morning. Today he did a full slow recharge on the battery, system tested everything and found no problem. He's keeping it overnight to see how it checks out in the morning. What the hell is going on with my truck???