m'er f'er won't turn over

[tripleoption]

Help.
My truck engine won't turn over. All I hear is a click when I turn the key. Battery is fine, gas is full, truck is a PITA. Any ideas? Starter relay or something like that? Help please.
Thanks much.

 

[Nick26]

sounds like it could be a bad spot in the starter, did you ever accidently try and start it while it was already on?

 

[tripleoption]

Nope, never did. All it does is go click under the dash. Starter doesn't spin at all. What a pile of crap. Anyone want it?

 

[scibrmonky]

This may sound a little crazy (or it might not), but this exact thing happened to me the other day. I'm currently waiting for the mechanic to replace my starter (I just don't have the time or tools to do it myself).

But, to get your X atleast started,
get under it and tap the starter with a wrench or something while someone else trys to start it, it should start after a few seconds of doing this.

Now, if you turn the engine off, you're probably going to have to crawl under it again and repeat to get it started again. The guy at Advance Auto helped me the first time (and taught me the trick), but I had to get gas on the way home, so I ended up having to ask a random person for help starting it again.

 

[lonestar]

Where is the clicking coming from, solenoid or starter.

try to bypass the starter realy/solenoid with a screwdriver and see what happens.

It still could be your battery, Older batteries sometimes get weak, they have enough juice to power lights and such, but when a heavy load is applied it doesn't have enough amps to turn it over.

 

[tripleoption]

Well, I went back to work to try the bypass thing (I did some searches here), and just for kicks tried to start it again as normal. The damn thing started. I shut it off and restarted 4 more times. Something is dying, but it's not quite dead yet. What is it?

I left it at work, but now it's out where I can work freely on it. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the help in the mean time.

 

[93xltnewb]

weak battery... or maybe ur starter acting up... starters are cheap and so as battery typical wear and tear dont give up on truck yet..
good luck

 

[jimbo74]

i would say, battery, solenoid, or starter...... if it starts up fine however, but only doesnt start sometimes, there my be a problem with interior cable corrosion... i would check all the batterys connections and replace any that seem to have corrosion

 

[99explorer5.0]

Same thing happend to a grand marquis i have. Tapping the starter would get the motor to turn over but really slow. Got a junk yard starter for 30 bucks and starts up again

 

[FourXFred]

if your still willing to give it away, i will take it. actually, my explorer has a brand new starter, so ill trade you steight up, your ex for mine. sounds like your starter is acting up to me. my starter froze up on me, i guess you could say. it would just click when you turned the key. whel, i got underthere with a BFH and beat the starter into submission while hitting the remote start button. the starter worked fine after that, but i replaced it anyways cause i diddnt want to have to hit it with a hammer ever again. my starter cost me around $130 brand new at autozone, but they did have a cheaper one too. (around 90 bucks i believe.

 

[Soundguy01tx]

heh, i know this is a lil old, but when my starter went out, it was my first day of work at a new job... delivering pizzas... when i went to make a run, it wouldnt start, and i saw it as a sign that I hsouldnt be workin there... but yes, beatin it with a hammer did help get it to start haha.
--bryan

 

[Crankcase]

You don't have to beat on it....try tapping it lightly....

 

[MikeP]

91 Explorer won't start

My 91 Ford Explorer will not start after parking at a Safeway (not far from my home in Seattle). The starter/solenoid does "click". I have had this happen before and reasons included: 1) dying battery 2) battery ground cable corroded away (apparently typical with 91-93 Explorers), 3) bad starter/solenoid, and 4) poor battery post connections (merely cleaned them). This is the 3rd time this has happened at this same Safeway store (yeh, I know - should quit going to this store). Luckily the store is only 1.5 miles from my home so this is an easy location to get stuck. Battery is Optima installed Aug. 2001 so it is about 2 years old.
My question is what can one do to prevent this from happening? This could have easily occurred when I was parked at some mountain trailhead way out in the boondocks.
Mike in Seattle

 

[MikeP]

Starter sickly

This morning I still was not able to start my 91 Explorer (relay on passenger side merely clicked). Used jumper cables to augment battery but it did not help. Tapped on starter motor with crescent wrench and this caused starter to operate and engine started. Replaced starter (with built-in solenoid) with Ford (Motorcraft) starter. The starter (with a starter which was not a Ford OEM starter) was last replaced in 1999 so it was 4 years old. Mike in Seattle