99 explorer intermittent no crank nightmare

[BigTim22]

Hello all,

I have been reading your forum for quite some time now but have finally come to a point where the answer was not seen. This lead to me joining and making this post. So here goes it!

I have a 1999 explorer xlt 4 door 4x4 130k miles great shape.
It has an intermittent no crank no start issue is that happens when ambient temperature is cold or war and when the truck is cold or warm. Sometimes when the no crank issue happens, the door locks will cycle repeatedly and randomly. I have don't the following so far:

When the issue occurs, the truck will not start both in park or neutral. So rang was ruled out.

Pats keys, module and receiver were inspected and functioning properly. I have two factory keys and the problem happens with both. The theft light does not flash rapidly when the problem occurs.
Ignition switch and cylinder were inspected and even replaced temporarily just to be certain that they were not the issue and they are functioning correctly.
Starter relay and dies inspected and tested. Both are functioning correctly.
Battery cables and terminals as well as the battery are functioning properly.
There is no loss of power during the issue and all dash indicators light as necessary when Turing the ignition key.
Really box at rear of truck as well as the lock, lock all & unlock all relays tested good. All wires to relay box are in great shape.
Rap system tested and failed. Could not locate rap module with solis scan tool. Based upon this, I unplugged the rap module to kill the anti theft starter cut out relay. This appeared to have fixed the issue for one day and then again I had a no crank no start for roughly 10 minutes.

I am at my wits end with this pos and may light it on fire if my wife doesn't kill me first. (It's her truck

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Turdle]

As far as I know the anti theft has no effect on the starter so you can rule that out. PATS disables the fuel delivery system, however the engine will still crank over with a non PATS key.

Have you tightened the connection on the starter?
If the battery is indeed good, cables are not corroded, and are connected good, since you have not mentioned it maybe it needs a new starter. Intermittent click death is a common ford starter problem. I have even seen a new ( orielly, might have been rebuilt) starter fail in the same way within a month of being replaced on a friend's Ranger.

I have moved this thread to the stock 1995-2001 explorer sub forum.

 

[Frdtuff]

Hmm. I'm now curious about this. I bought my son a 96 Explorer XLT last week... His first car. We've been doing some minor work to it and had his battery disconnected a few times the past few days. Went to start it yesterday after leaving the store and nothing. All lights and such were on but turn the key and nothing happened, no crank, nothing. Popped the hood and juggled the connection at the battery terminal (he did not tighten the connection last time he reconnected the battery) and it started right up. I figured that must be why it wouldn't start but still found it odd that all his dash lights, dome lights and such were working but no crank. Just shrugged it off but now wondering if it was something else...

 

[Turdle]

Hmm. I'm now curious about this. I bought my son a 96 Explorer XLT last week... His first car. We've been doing some minor work to it and had his battery disconnected a few times the past few days. Went to start it yesterday after leaving the store and nothing. All lights and such were on but turn the key and nothing happened, no crank, nothing. Popped the hood and juggled the connection at the battery terminal (he did not tighten the connection last time he reconnected the battery) and it started right up. I figured that must be why it wouldn't start but still found it odd that all his dash lights, dome lights and such were working but no crank. Just shrugged it off but now wondering if it was something else...

Sounds exactly like a bad connection to me. Lights use a lot less power than the starter, and will illuminate with lower voltage then the starter relay requires to close it's contact.

 

[Frdtuff]

Sounds exactly like a bad connection to me. Lights use a lot less power than the starter, and will illuminate with lower voltage then the starter relay requires to close it's contact.

Good. I hope that's all it was then. Haven't had any problems since we tightened it