Explorer Died

[Retribution]

hey, Im driving my 1993 Sport 2wd, down the road all of a sudden the thing craps out on me and dies, turn the key the most I get is a *click*. I get it towed over to my place and do a run down, battery seems fine(note I say seems) junping the sylenoid does nothing, pulled out the starter( I know it would have caused it to die), left all the wiring attached turn the key spins just fine, put it back into the car, nothing. after a little while batter gets super hot to the touch, Im starting to get frustrated, I dont know what else to check, and I cant find my FSM for the life of me

 

[greenbeer]

Sounds like the crank broke or the motor froze. My buddies Mark VII did the same thing with no warning at 70mph. Try turning the motor by hand with a ratchet. Good luck.

 

[Brian_B]

What he said.^^^ Put a ratchet on the front crank shaft pulley bolt and see if the engine will turn.

 

[Retribution]

I can turn the engine just fine, forgot to mention that, thanks for the suggestion though. any other ideas would be great

 

[Brian_B]

Perhaps the flywheel (flexplate) is messed up and when the started bendix goes in it locks and overheats?

Could you see the flywheel when you had the started off? I would open t-converter cover and look at least. I had a flywheel (flexplate) crack and break. It did not lock mine, but would spin and not turn the engine. Everything got hot after a little while of it spinning. My starter was only a few weeks old at the time.

 

[Retribution]

I will have to check that out tommorow, hope thats not the problem though, could be a real pain in the arse

 

[marragtop]

If the flywheel and flex plate check ok, and since you can turn the motor by hand, I'd consider replacing the starter. Just because it spins with no load on it, doesn't mean that it will turn the motor over. However, this still doesn't explain why it just stopped running.

 

[Papa]

A good charged battery should not drop below 9.5 VDC after 15 seconds of cranking the engine over. That said any number of electrical problems cold effectively kill the engine. Have you done any battery voltage checks?

Pa Pa

 

[greenbeer]

I just remembered. Duh. My 93 did this same exact thing. It was the positive battery cable. Somehow it had just suddenly failed causing the motor to sputter and quit. It would then supply only enough power to the starter to only engage the solinoid but, not turn the starter. This also made my battery smoke. I put in a new red cable and, bam it started right up. No more problem. It might be something else but, I would look into this. Good Luck.