Background: I've had this SUV for a couple of months and it "seemed" to have a bad battery or a battery drain after the first couple of weeks. First sign, it wouldn't turn over one day to start, the wipers were really slow, and the heater blower motor ran really slow. OK, I needed a new battery--it was cheap car with a 24 month battery from 1997, so that's no surprise. So I hooked it up to my charger and had no issues the next time I went to drive it.
When I replaced the battery, we checked that the alternator was charging, the starter pulled the right amount of juice, and there didn't seem to be a drain (all this was checked by the 12-year-old kid at the Battery Exchange place on his big machine thingy). Things were good for a month or so. This is my "spare" 1st generation Explorer, so I don't drive it a lot. So the other day, I hop in, it starts, but the wipers are slow and the heater fan is slow. Hmmm... I think OK, I must really have a battery drain somewhere and the kid and his machine didn't catch it. So I hook the car up to my trickle charger again overnight and gave it a full charge.
Yesterday morning, I go out and try to start it. Nothing--and the check engine light comes on and stays on, even with the ignition off! So I figure that something was wrong with my ignition switch itself, because it really is messed up. [The ignition metal switch part turns independently of the key.] I bypassed the ignition in the column by turning the key on and jumping the solenoid to the positive battery terminal and still nothing. So I unhooked the battery and replaced the solenoid. Then, I hooked the battery back up--the negative sparked and there is a noise (some type of click) coming from somewhere on the passenger side of the engine compartment. Hmmm. Back inside the car, the check engine light is back on with the key out and ignition off, BUT there are no interior lights and the door locks and window regulators do not work as if the battery is not hooked up. And jumping the solenoid still doesn't work. Repeatedly unhooking and hooking up the negative battery cable produces the same single noise (maybe under the fuse box?) and spark, gives me the check engine light, and no other evidence of having the battery hooked up.
I'm thinking it's simple, like a relay somewhere that finally went bad, but my mechanical knowledge extends to vintage Fords, from 1964.5-1970, not these "new fangled" things without carburetors and having all of these electric doodads and such from the 1990s. Ideas?
When I replaced the battery, we checked that the alternator was charging, the starter pulled the right amount of juice, and there didn't seem to be a drain (all this was checked by the 12-year-old kid at the Battery Exchange place on his big machine thingy). Things were good for a month or so. This is my "spare" 1st generation Explorer, so I don't drive it a lot. So the other day, I hop in, it starts, but the wipers are slow and the heater fan is slow. Hmmm... I think OK, I must really have a battery drain somewhere and the kid and his machine didn't catch it. So I hook the car up to my trickle charger again overnight and gave it a full charge.
Yesterday morning, I go out and try to start it. Nothing--and the check engine light comes on and stays on, even with the ignition off! So I figure that something was wrong with my ignition switch itself, because it really is messed up. [The ignition metal switch part turns independently of the key.] I bypassed the ignition in the column by turning the key on and jumping the solenoid to the positive battery terminal and still nothing. So I unhooked the battery and replaced the solenoid. Then, I hooked the battery back up--the negative sparked and there is a noise (some type of click) coming from somewhere on the passenger side of the engine compartment. Hmmm. Back inside the car, the check engine light is back on with the key out and ignition off, BUT there are no interior lights and the door locks and window regulators do not work as if the battery is not hooked up. And jumping the solenoid still doesn't work. Repeatedly unhooking and hooking up the negative battery cable produces the same single noise (maybe under the fuse box?) and spark, gives me the check engine light, and no other evidence of having the battery hooked up.
I'm thinking it's simple, like a relay somewhere that finally went bad, but my mechanical knowledge extends to vintage Fords, from 1964.5-1970, not these "new fangled" things without carburetors and having all of these electric doodads and such from the 1990s. Ideas?
