98 Explorer XLT 4.0L SOHC only starts jumpstarted, even with new battery | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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98 Explorer XLT 4.0L SOHC only starts jumpstarted, even with new battery

Wiliam Leite

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January 10, 2018
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Year, Model & Trim Level
1998 XLT
I got a Ford Explorer XLT 4.0L SOHC 3 months ago, It looks well maintained and have worked fine so far.

After parking for about 3 hours last week it refused to start not even cranking, jumpstarting from another car it starts after about one minute after connecting batteries in parallel.
My first action was to replace the battery but even with a new one, the problem persists, but when jumpstarted (pushing on the gas of the other car to get more than 13V at battery) it starts with no problem and once running doesn't stall anymore.
I've checked all the fuses and hit a bit the relays, I also followed the instructions of the post "2nd gen issues? Try this first!" (checked the 2 large wire bundle connectors on the firewall) without success...

Any Idea about the next steps? No money for a workshop now...

Thanks in advance!

Will
 



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Check all the cabling. Pull the terminals off and polish if you haven’t. Second gens can get corrosion down in the cables and eat the copper out under the jackets.
 






Change/clean your terminals
 






cable/terminal/terminal end related issue.
 






Assuming battery studs are clean,
Do a voltage drop test on the wires. Measure voltage across a conductor. Theoretically a conductor should have zero resistance, and that means zero volts (or in real life less than .1 or so). For example, from the alternator stud to the positive battery terminal. Then from the Starter ground to the negative terminal. You should see very close to zero volts. If you see say 2 volts, that means the wire is acting as a load and you have to service it. You could check resistance too if the battery is disconnected (should be a short circuit).

After that, you may have some lamp, relay or module drawing power. Place a current meter in series with the positive or negative terminal, walk away, wait about an hour. It should drop to about 25mA. Anything more than that means you have to start pulling fuses. The current will rise when you open the door and the lights go on, so you have to be aware of that.
 






Thanks everybody, this weekend I'm gonna try to do all these steps...

Will let you guys know if it works...
 






Are you jumping it right on the battery terminals?
 












Did you check the cables and connections? Does it click at all now?
 












Are they factory crimp on sheet metal post clamps, or the bolt on lead block style? Does it click? Did you check the connection on the starter?

Wiggle the positive and negative candles hard and see if it starts.
 






Sounds a lot like a loose/ corroded battery cable. Try jumping it from a remote ground, and then from a remote power
 






Are they factory crimp on sheet metal post clamps, or the bolt on lead block style? Does it click? Did you check the connection on the starter?

Wiggle the positive and negative candles hard and see if it starts.
the positive connector of the battery is crimp on sheet metal, the negative one is block style, I didn't check the connection on the starter yet.

I'll try to check the starter connection...
 






Are they factory crimp on sheet metal post clamps, or the bolt on lead block style? Does it click? Did you check the connection on the starter?

Wiggle the positive and negative candles hard and see if it starts.

I wiggled the positive and negative candles hard ... doesn't start
the positive connector of the battery is crimp on sheet metal, the negative one is block style, I didn't check the connection on the starter yet.

I'll try to check the starter connection...
 






Actually if you turn on the headlights then play with the terminals it's easier to see when you find the problem - the headlights will go bright and dim. Same thing helps when jumping a problem car.
 






How many wires are in the ground terminal?
 






If you have a lead block-style terminal on the neg side, it's been replaced with a repair terminal. The factory terminals were both sheet metal and typically one, or both, corrode over time and people replace them with lead repair terminals. Are there two 7/16" bolts holding the repair terminal on the cable? Have you checked to make sure that those bolts are tight and that the copper wire looks okay? These terminals can become slightly loose over time and the bolts need to be checked periodically. The end of the wire can also become corroded.

In any event, I'm still 99% sure your problem is terminal/cable related. I've seen this many, many times.
 












Helo everybody!

Sorry for taking so long to respond, actually I've left her forgotten for three weeks and today I decided to try again. I did everything you guys put here and then I decided to take the starter off. At the very first attempt I figured out it's not simple cos the starter is located just above the differential, it's a pain to loosen the studs...
Then I gave up and just hit the starter/solenoid a bit with a wrench and it began working...

I'll now take it to a shop to replace or repair the starter, that's a big tough to do home without many tools...

Thanks a lot for all the support!
 



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