Solved - 2001 Sport Trac - won't crank | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Solved 2001 Sport Trac - won't crank

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429CJ-3X2

Elite Explorer
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November 6, 2009
Messages
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City, State
Des Moines, Iowa
Year, Model & Trim Level
'01,'02, '04 Sport Tracs,
I've had a thread on this in the Sport Trac forum, but haven't come up with a solution yet. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=417265
Maybe somebody new will see it here.

2001 Sport Trac - my daughter's been driving it the past 2 or 3 weeks. She stopped in Monday night and mentioned the rear turn signals weren't working. I checked some fuses, then did some research in the Sport Trac forum. Moved the tilt wheel up out of the lowest position, and the turn signals (and brake lights) started working again. When she was ready to leave a short time later, the truck wouldn't even try to crank over, and hasn't since. We've had no issues starting the truck before this.

When I turn the key, one of the relays (not the starter relay) under the hood clicks once at the "on" or "run" position, and once when the key is turned to "start". The THEFT light continues to blink every 2 seconds regardless of the key position. It's like it doesn't recognize there is a key in the switch. Original factory key or duplicate, doesn't matter. All other electricals work fine.

I cleaned the battery terminals, recharged the battery, even swapped batteries with my '02 Sport Trac, swapped starter relays (from the fuse/relay box under the hood), and fuse 24 from the fuse panel, between the 2 trucks. Checked all fuses. Took the covers off the steering column and found the tabs broken off the connector to the multifunction switch so it didn't connect securely. Also some of the wires were loose in the connector. Got a connector from the salvage yard and put the truck's wires into it, so all those connections are tight. (All I'm using from the salvage yard is the plastic connector that plugs into the multifunction switch. I did not splice any wires.)

I really need this truck running! It's 15* with 3" of new snow. I bought this truck for my wife to drive in these conditions, and just when we need it, it won't start!
 



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Just about to go out and do it.
 






Did you follow through with this? ALL connections checked at the starter? Remove starter and and bench test?

I gave it my best shot, but about all I accomplished was to confirm 2 things.
1) It's way too cold to be working under the truck in my driveway.
2) There's no way that starter is coming out in my driveway. I managed to get 1 of the bolts out to remove the dampener to get to the starter with a lot of effort and Liquid Wrench. Couldn't get a socket on either of the others well enough to put the necessary force on them. Everything under this truck is rusted. I did get the nut that holds the ground cable to the starter bolt off, but couldn't budge the nut/stud that holds the starter to the transmission.

I also nearly froze my toes, snapped my 3/8 drive swivel, and dropped a new 12mm wrench from the battery area into an area where I'll never see it again.
 






Put some new ground cables on it, I have seen them cause similar issues.
 






Ground cable is $54 at NAPA, $76 I think at O'Reilly's - IF they can get them.

Tow truck just left with it on its way to the dealership. The service mgr said it sounds like the PATS transceiver went bad. He said they'll go bad with no warning, and with no rhyme or reason. He said he drove his parent's F-150 to the dealership to have new tires put on it. When the tech went to pull it in, it wouldn't start - the transceiver had quit.
 






sounds like the wires in the tilt column have broke into see it often at the dealership i work at. the wires to the PATS and the multifunction switch all run through the same spot the wiring harness on the tilt columns could have used an extra inch after a while of the tilting they start to break
 






Ford dealership called and they've got it fixed. I probably SHOULD be embarrassed, but I'm not really, because I apparently fixed the original problem. Poorer than I need to be, though.

It looks like I solved the original reason it wouldn't start when I got all the connections snug by replacing the connector that plugs into the multifunction switch with the plug/connector from the salvage yard.

However, I created a new problem last weekend when I checked all the fuses, one at a time, with a diagram of the fuse panel in hand, and somehow didn't get fuse #19 back in. That's the fuse for the PCM. I know that wasn't the original reason it didn't start because I only checked the fuses BECAUSE it wouldn't start last Monday.
 






sounds like the wires in the tilt column have broke into see it often at the dealership i work at. the wires to the PATS and the multifunction switch all run through the same spot the wiring harness on the tilt columns could have used an extra inch after a while of the tilting they start to break
Bingo! He called it, good one! :thumbsup:
 






correction

One last post to correct what I said earlier.

As I was thinking about this again, I realized the missing fuse was the problem all along. When my daughter said the turn signals weren't working, the 1st thing I did was check fuses. That must have been when I didn't get fuse 19 back in, even though I compared the fuse panel with my other ST. I checked the fuse panel twice after that, with a diagram of it in my hand at least once.

The wiring in the column did need to be repaired with a new connector, but had nothing to do with the no crank problem. The wiring could be a problem, and the transceiver can lose its ability to recognize the key, but that wasn't my problem.
 






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