intermitent no crank/start

[raaizin]

I have a '96 explorer with and intermitent starting issue. On 2 seperate occasions 2 months apart I tried to start my explorer and absolutely nothing would happen(no crank or no click). All the gauges would light up as normal. After 2-3 attempts to start truck would start normal. solenoid and starter are 2 years old. Battery is about 5-6 years old. I would like to fix this before I get stuck but it may be hard to diagnose since it occrs so infrequently
.Ray

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Your battery does have some life on it. It is extremely hard to diagnosis a intermittent issue - espeically a no start. You may want to replace the battery since it has since a long life on it (just to get it out of the way).

-Drew

 

[BrooklynBay]

If you go to an auto parts store like AutoZone, they will do a load test on your battery for free. This will determine if your battery is bad. A lot of the time, an intermittant no crank could be from a dirt build up on the terminals. The connection may vary with humidity, and temperature.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

You might try cleaning the negative battery terminal, where it bolts to the starter. That fixed my daughter's intermittant no-start.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

You might try cleaning the negative battery terminal, where it bolts to the starter.

You mean positive?

-Drew

 

[BrooklynBay]

I thought that he was talking about the ground strap.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

The starter solenoid grounds itself to its case. so there's no real need for a ground strap?

-Drew


EDIT:

Typical starting system diagram. However, I haven't messed with an Explorer starter before (or atleast don't remember one), so it may have a ground strap, but it's not coming from the battery

 

[BrooklynBay]

I have a ground strap on my van's starter that is connected to the frame. The factory straps are very brittle, so I replaced it with a 4 gauge wire that was available in the auto parts store.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Originally Posted by Runnin'OnEmpty
You might try cleaning the negative battery terminal, where it bolts to the starter.

You mean positive?

-Drew

Drew, on mine the negative battery cable bolts to one of the starter bolts, to give a ground to the engine block. It's this connection that tends to corrode.

(I think it's a combination of the aluminum/iron connection, with current flowing through it and being splashed with rainwater that creates galvanic corrosion.)

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Is it red or black?

-Drew