Engine Wont Start

[pearsonbe]

When the key is turned, I can hear a loud click from what I think are the remote solenoid and starter. But the starter does not crank the engine. The battery has 12.9 volts and the engine fuses are good. Does it sound like the starter pinion is stuck?

I'd like to get under the truck to whack the starter but its cold and wet outside.

 

[2stroke]

It could be stuck. Get a broom stick or something, and you can poke it under the hood on the drivers side.

 

[pearsonbe]

Thanks! Will give that a try.

 

[pearsonbe]

Didn't help. There isn't a lot of manuvering space from the top. I will have to climb under it to test for voltage etc. At this point, I think it's dead. Today I didn't see/hear any signs of life.

 

[2stroke]

The easiest (maybe most redneck) way to check a bad starter is to jump the solenoid.

 

[MrShorty]

When my starter went bad on my Suburban, I found this diagnostic article very helpful in testing the starter: http://easyautodiagnostics.com/misc-index/starter-motor-on-car-tests-1

 

[larrydd999]

If you didn't hear a click at all, you might be lucky and have a bad starter relay. That's the unit mounted on its side by the battery. Also, check your battery connections.

 

[natenkiki2004]

The battery can show proper voltage but be so worn out internally that it has minimal cranking amps. It would be good to yank it out and take it to an auto parts store to have them load test it, just to be safe.

The battery cables on these Explorers are very prone to damage through corrosion. Mine were a nightmare and they still worked fine.

 

[2stroke]

While that is true, you would have plenty of warning before hand. It would have been really slow cranking before it went out. Usually the starter has some warning too, but not always. I still say jump the solenoid, and you can eliminate the cables, battery, and starter from the suspect list instantly.

 

[djleatherb15]

I had a problem similar to this. The thing that was wrong was that the wires were coming out of the battery terminals. I took the wires out of the terminals and put them back in and that fixed the problem and haven't had a problem since.

 

[pearsonbe]

Thanks. I missed all of this. I did jump the solenoid and the starter gave me a cold hard stare. ;^) At that point I suspected it was the starter. Also, as mentioned it turned slow before it went out. Starter was replaced and the truck is back is business. Starter spins a lot faster.

The large positive cable was in bad shape, so it was replaced with a $16 unit. The new one was re-routed to the starter. Now there is an issue with hard starts. It will start after a lot of cranking, but it takes a while and I'm worried about burning the starter up. Is there a something special about the factory cable? Could we have bypassed a connection in the ignition system or is it likely a coincidence?

 

[DRF]

May be drawing too many amps and lowering the cranking voltage to the module... longer cable may be long and complicated to add resistance, or a connection at the solenoid added power to the system during cranking and isnt there now... or it could be the old starter had done some damage when drawing alot of amps... safe to say it was a good idea to change the bad cable, but modifying the system before the cause of the problem is identified can complicate things... Id say return it to the original cable routing and see if the problem persists. If it is still doing the same thing check for voltage loss to the Ignition module on the distributor during cranking, which points to the starter soleniod on the fenderwall in the engine compartment. bad cables and amp draw usually always add up to component damage... but Im hoping its just a loose connection somewhere or the battery cable needs to feed a connection on the solenoid.

 

[pearsonbe]

"but Im hoping its just a loose connection somewhere"

Thanks. DRF. After looking around I found that both nuts at the fender for the positive cable were loose. Tightened them up and it's back to normal. It still takes a couple of cranks to start when cold, but it was like that before.

"check for voltage loss to the Ignition module on the distributor during cranking"

Is there a procedure for this somewhere? I'd like to check and know what I'm getting now.