Greg M
New Member
- Joined
- October 7, 2016
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Charlotte, NC
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2001 Explorer Sport 2WD
Hi there everyone, serious issue here:
I've got a '01 Explorer Sport that probably about 90% of the time, won't start on the first go around. Usually, I'll get in the car, go to turn the key and... All the electronics in the car shut down, no crank at all. There is a rapid, but very muted "chirp" or "beep" from somewhere in the center of the dash, and the car refuses to start. At all. Just a click, and everything goes dead, interior lights, radio, entire dash. If I turn the key to accessory *beforehand* (If I attempt this after the car is dead, nothing happens), everything seems fine. However, I did some research, and the Theft light on the bottom right of the dash stays lit far too long(sometimes 10 seconds, sometimes 2-3 minutes) and when it does that, it refuses to start. Yet, conversely, sometimes it wont be on and it still wont start.
The other thing is, is that when it starts, it starts immediately, I've never had an issue with it turning over.
The only way to get the car to start is to pop the hood, and go take the lead off the ground on the battery and put it back so the electrical systems come back online, giving me another shot at cranking it, sometimes I have to repeat this step over and over and over and *over*. (Yesterday in the pouring rain somewhere in who knows where North Carolina, and tonight, in a Target parking lot while I yelled at my car.
Now, I've taken my loveable, yet finnicky piece of crap to my local Ford dealer, and they kindly informed me that if I wanted to know what was wrong with my only mode of transportation to work, was to leave it with them overnight, for the low low price of $200, even though I demonstrated the issue to the tech, and he had no clue what was wrong, so my assumption is that in a day, they'll call me and say the only way to fix it is to replace the $700 PCM and get a new set of keys to program into it.
The car is mechanically sound, had a new transmission put in about 7 months ago. This issue began this week. I will be happy to provide any other information you may need about this. The car is going on 18 years old with the original key(I have no spare) Can these keys die? Where can I get one for not too expensive?.
Thank you all in advance
-One bummed Explorer owner
I've got a '01 Explorer Sport that probably about 90% of the time, won't start on the first go around. Usually, I'll get in the car, go to turn the key and... All the electronics in the car shut down, no crank at all. There is a rapid, but very muted "chirp" or "beep" from somewhere in the center of the dash, and the car refuses to start. At all. Just a click, and everything goes dead, interior lights, radio, entire dash. If I turn the key to accessory *beforehand* (If I attempt this after the car is dead, nothing happens), everything seems fine. However, I did some research, and the Theft light on the bottom right of the dash stays lit far too long(sometimes 10 seconds, sometimes 2-3 minutes) and when it does that, it refuses to start. Yet, conversely, sometimes it wont be on and it still wont start.
The other thing is, is that when it starts, it starts immediately, I've never had an issue with it turning over.
The only way to get the car to start is to pop the hood, and go take the lead off the ground on the battery and put it back so the electrical systems come back online, giving me another shot at cranking it, sometimes I have to repeat this step over and over and over and *over*. (Yesterday in the pouring rain somewhere in who knows where North Carolina, and tonight, in a Target parking lot while I yelled at my car.
Now, I've taken my loveable, yet finnicky piece of crap to my local Ford dealer, and they kindly informed me that if I wanted to know what was wrong with my only mode of transportation to work, was to leave it with them overnight, for the low low price of $200, even though I demonstrated the issue to the tech, and he had no clue what was wrong, so my assumption is that in a day, they'll call me and say the only way to fix it is to replace the $700 PCM and get a new set of keys to program into it.
The car is mechanically sound, had a new transmission put in about 7 months ago. This issue began this week. I will be happy to provide any other information you may need about this. The car is going on 18 years old with the original key(I have no spare) Can these keys die? Where can I get one for not too expensive?.
Thank you all in advance
-One bummed Explorer owner
