97 5.7L: Engine stalled at light, ticking sound after restart

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Brocktoon

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Sep 7, 2021
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I was stopped at a stoplight this morning, when it turned green, the engine started to die. I lost all power, but I was able to turn onto a side street and pull over. For about 10 minutes, there was no crank and no start, interior lights still worked. Eventually I was able to start the truck and get it home, but there was a pretty loud ticking noise on acceleration that I hadn't heard before. It sort of reminded me of a leaking exhaust manifold. I was able to record a few seconds of it, video is below. Excuse the squeaking, it's probably the end link.

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The fuel tank, pump, and filter are all new. I replaced them all about a month ago when I pulled the bed and painted the rear of the frame. Plugs, wires, rotor and cap were replaced last fall. I just had the truck running in the driveway with scanner attached. Ticking wasn't there when idling, but there was no fuel pressure reading even though it was running. I've also had the radio reset several times, becoming more frequent in recent weeks, so maybe a bad battery connection there.

Any thoughts would be helpful, thanks.
 

Ruff Idol

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Positive battery terminal. If you think it's maybe-sorta-tight, it's not. Directly at the terminal is a pair of 2 wires - one very thick and going to the starter, the other to the junction block to feed all the electronics. If these do not have a perfect connection to the terminal you'll experience erratic starting & engine dying on ya.

I was in the same boat; died right as I came to an intersection. Pulled over and noticed the positive cable would move around slightly if I messed with it. Tightened the sucker down and it started right up

Or sounds like your alternator might be acting up. Could explain the ticking & why it gradually died.
 
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