2003 Eddie Bauer Explorer Wont start! battery is fine!

[Precise06]

Can someone help me out? I am new to the site and am having a hard time trying to navigate through it so I apologize if this is not the place to ask my question. I am a single mother and have no idea about cars of any sort. My 2003 Explorer Eddie Bauer will not start. All of the electrical is fine, its just that it wont turn over at all. not even a clicking sound. A friend of mine jimmied the starter and it worked so he doesn't believe that is it either. He even replaced a couple of fuses and it still didn't work. I feel as though it is something real simple that will remedy the situation so I don't want to have to spend a ton of money taking it to a ford dealer to find that out. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

[imp]

Can someone help me out? I am new to the site and am having a hard time trying to navigate through it so I apologize if this is not the place to ask my question. I am a single mother and have no idea about cars of any sort. My 2003 Explorer Eddie Bauer will not start. ............. Any ideas on what it could be?

Ma'am, all kinds of ideas, but really difficult to make educated guesses, given what is known.

To begin, some places will check the battery for free; once running, will it continue to run, or is it now "dead in the water"? If "jimmie-ing" made the starter operate, IT is perhaps OK, but not a given. Poor contact at battery terminals will often cause a no-start, or intermittent start. Turn on headlights, and look to see if they appear normal brightness. If yes, run blower on "high" also, check again; still bright? USUALLY, battery terminal problems will show up under the combined load of blower and headlights. If NO LIGHTS, the battery should be checked with a HYDROMETER, a cheap, most-valuable little tool everyone ought to have and know how to use.

If the battery/terminals prove to be acceptable, we go on to the starter motor itself, possible inconsistently-operating contacts in it's solenoid, which turn on the motor and engage the starter drive-gear. Starter proven out good, ignition switch begins to look suspect: it's a much rarer cause however.

More ideas come to mind, but those are the likely routes to follow first. imp

 

[Precise06]

Thank You. I will look into those things you have identified. We have already checked the battery and that is fine also.

 

[Geologist]

Since you say the battery is fine and your friend was able to start the vehichle with the starter using the jump acroos posts trick, that really boils it down to a few possibilities.

1. Ignition switch is bad or has come partially unplugged (unlikely but I have seen both happen in the past).
2. Battery cable not getting propper contact with battery post (could be the positive or negative side).
3. Some vehichles have a relay between the ignition switch and the starter (I do not know if this is true with Explorers, and cannot research the possibility as lunch is almost over). If the relay goes out, it will not start on those vehichles.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

 

[EXPLORER04]

When you put the key in the ignition and turn it, what does the red light in the center of your dash by the windshield do? Does it blink rapidly or slowly?

 

[matt0248]

my 02 would not crank one day out of the blue. It turned that the small wire down to the starter solenoid corroded and broke at the starter itself.

 

[enyaw]

Make sure the key you are using is the one with the chip in it and that it is programed and you're not using the spare that was made in case you locked the original inside.