I Think My Starter Decided to Stop Starting

[VBVA]

Yup, she's dead. Went 4 Wheeling all day today and she perform excellently, even started after sitting for an hour in the dorm parking lot. Went out tonight, hung out for 3 hours or so, go back to Ex, turn the key and......nothing! The key turns over, CD player kicks on, interior lights function but the engine won't turn over. Whenever I turned the key I hear a click like something (maybe the starter) was trying to engage, but it was too dark and there was nobody with me to check it out with me. Any ideas?

 

[Mike]

check your wires and cables it still could be the batt... might have enough juice to play the radio but not start the truck.... try jumping it


Mike

 

[VBVA]

Ok....I'll check that tomorrow. It was too dark to look at any wires tonight, but I'll go scope it out tomorrow and try to jump it. If not, AAA will be towing the Ex back to my dorm so I can buy a new solenoid/starter/battery/or whatever...

 

[section525]

Definetly check the connections. My buddy's Ranger was acting up like that and it was only because it was so corroded that the contect was crap. It even ate through his amp power wire.

 

[zekex2]

pull it. takeit to auto zone and have it tested. I bought starters for both my f350 diesel and my 4runner there. thay have warrenty exchanged the f350 four times and the runner one time. I kill starters in the diesel every 1-1/2 years no matter where i buy them. the 4runner went 6 years of about twenty starts a day. that was good enough for me.

 

[VBVA]

The connections were definitely corroded. So corroded that it ate through my wire for my lights. You think that could the problem? It started up fine all day yesterday while I was on the trail, but then last night when I was leaving my buddy's apartment it wouldn't even turn over and this loud click sound was coming from under my air filter whenever I turned the key over. I just got back from trying to jump it, no luck. You'd think if it was a dead battery it would turn over if it was connected to another vehicle.

 

[VBVA]

I think it is def the starter. The starter motor is behind the battery next the air filter on a 4.0 OHV right?

 

[92KENNEY]

im not entirely sure what could be wrong and i wish i had my notes on me so i could tell you how to check your whole starter circuit but if you have any friends that are mechanics or you are in good with any garage's find out how much it would cost to have a tech to run a 16 minute quick test, when they do they will obviously see any of the corrosion/gfs(green fuzzy stuff) that you have already seen your self also your battery might have some gfs or something on top if you have top mounted post that is keeping a constant flow of power on your battery which will drain it enough to where you only have enough for the acc setting also it will check your cables and starter and the battery as a whole (its better to pay for the quick test than to waste money buying and fixing stuff that aint broke)

 

[VBVA]

Thanks for those notes 92Kenney. I am gonna call AAA on Monday and get it towed to a shop and have them check it out and assess what is wrong. I will figure it out from there whether they should fix or if I can do it myself.

 

[Opera House]

How cheap can you get

On occasion, I would try to start my 97 Explorer and it would just click. Knowing it was something that would never strand me, you can just jumper the two big lugs of the solenoid, I put off the repair till it took about six turns of the key to start it. I've always had a curiosity for how things fail so today I removed the solenoid and CAREFULLY drilled out the four base rivets. Inside one lead of the coil is welded to the backplate and the other is soldered to a wire that goes to the small screw connection on top. I cut this top wire and removed the coil assembly. When the copper contacts were exposed, the were coated with this light powder blue coating. I've never seen a coating like this. It was almost iridescent. Scraped the contacts with a small chisel and sandpaper till they were bright. Reassembled the solenoid, soldered the wire, and secured the backplate with pop rivets. Maybe I saved $17. Just a lot of fun to see what you can fix.