1994 Explorer won't start

[TwiztedVizionz]

Hello wveryone, long time lurker first time poster. My wife has a 94 explorer that she adores, the water pump blew and blew head gasket. I just put a new one in today. Upon restarting the engine it struggled and then clicked like the battery was dead but was showing good voltage. Hit it again and started up, started up 3 more times within the hour. We parked it. Attempted to leave and just a click. The click is coming from th fender mounted relay, starter doesn't engage and solenoid doesn't click. When jumped from relay it clicks solenoid but doesn't engage starter. The ground from the block to the battery was very rusty, touched bare copper to battery and still nothing. I haven't tried anything otber thn Classic tapping on starter. The truck is an automatic 4.0 pushrod.

 

[Boose1980]

I'd replace the positive and negative battery cables. It's a pain in the a**, but well worth the effort. I've been having similar issues and thought the cables on my 91 XLT were fine. Once I removed the negative, the coating on the outside crumbled in my hand in some places. Even if it ends up not fixing ur problem, it's still well worth the effort knowing that ur ex is getting all the necessary power. Just my two cents. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[FR-425]

Bad starter.. .. .. .

 

[Wolfie_85]

I still say starter. Replace those cables, too. But my starter did the exact same thing a few weeks ago. I had to whack it with a hammer pretty persistently to get it going.

 

[2stroke]

If you jump the solenoid, and nothing happens, the starter is bad.

 

[TwiztedVizionz]

Will do. I was reading in a similar post that the big cable that grounds to the block is the starters ground, that's why I attempted to bypass the rusty connection and use bare copper on the freshly wire brushed battery terminal. Thank you, I have some terminals laying around somewhere.

 

[TwiztedVizionz]

If you jump the solenoid, and nothing happens, the starter is bad.

I didn't jump the solenoid on the starter, I jumped the fender mounted starter relay. When hitting the key the starter relay clicks but does not click the solenoid, when jumped from relay solenoid ticks but does not engage starter. Should I try to jump the 2 wires on starter? The starter is also covered in headgasket gunk, could that be causing it to not get a proper ground?