99 mounty no crank but starts after a few tries

[SavaX]

Hey all,

Took the mounty on a camping trip last weekend. Drove ~9 hours over two days and parked it for a few days, when I tried to start it I got no battery click and no crank. Jumping it didn't seem to help but she finally fired up after turning the key off/on for a few minutes. She ran great on the way home.

Since then it seems like it'll start after cycling the ignition a few times. Thinking of the fuel/air/spark thing, the only thing I can think of is that I filled up with some Shell gasoline that had extra ethanol in it, so maybe it fried part of my fuel system? In researching it seems like even if it wasn't getting any fuel it would still crank over.

I'm going to check the bundled connections in Turdle's "2nd gen issues? Try this first!" thread, but wanted to ask around and see if anyone had any suggestions.

 

[J_C]

I'm wondering if your ignition switch is failing. See this topic for troubleshooting and a wiring diagram:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/nothing-when-i-turn-the-key.464616/

In particular, use a multimeter on interior fuse panel fuse 24 to see if you measure 12V with the key in the start position. Multimeter negative lead gets connected to any negative wire or unpainted metal chassis ground.

While you have the multimeter out, make sure your battery is holding charge, should be a little over 12.0V with the engine off.

You are correct that it's not the fuel.