Solved Maybe not so Urgent Issue

[DemonMudder]

My '99 Ford explorer and it drove just fine yesterday. Went to start it this morning and....nothing. Just, nothing. I can turn things like the visor on, the battery reads just fine. Replaced the alt a few months ago. The ignition fuse is good, could be a starter? I put the key in, there is like a click somewhere behind the steering wheel, the theft light flashes like normal, but if you turn the key, nothing. Even the click and theft goes off and until you turn the key back. Not even a click of the ignition trying to turn. I'm working the next few days and I NEED my truck, so anyone's ideas would be bloody fantastic

 

[J_C]

If "even the click and theft goes off" means it acts dead when you try to start it, I'd guess that you have a cable or connector corrosion problem on either positive or ground to the battery. It might help to have a 2nd person, watching the multimeter reading of battery voltage when the other person is trying to start it, or very long multimeter leads to do it alone in the vehicle.

If the battery severely droops in voltage, I'd guess your starter is bad, shorting out, or of course a bad battery but then should droop excessively from lower current too.

If the battery doesn't severely droop trying to start it, I'd guess a bad, high resistance connection from wire or clamps as mentioned above. If the battery is not at near 12.6V I'd put it on a charger and try again and wonder if the alternator or wire/connector/corrosion to it is the problem.

 

[BKennedy]

What do you mean "battery reads just fine"?? Did you have it tested. I have noticed when batteries are going bad with the Explorers they will hard start or not show any signs at all until they are shot.

 

[DemonMudder]

What do you mean "battery reads just fine"?? Did you have it tested. I have noticed when batteries are going bad with the Explorers they will hard start or not show any signs at all until they are shot.

Yes we tested it, held a charge and we even got it topped off at 13 volts with 0 issue. And no, it's a bad positive clamp apparently, (I think). I knew we kind of rednecked it together to begin with, clearly busted, was cheap anyway. But we took it off, and we put it back to try and jump it again and this time, cranked up, and even still cranks now without being hooked. So I "should" just need some new cable ends, be a bit smarter about the price and quality this time. I'll let ya know how things go in the morning, but that should be it that we can tell. Because I'm a bloody moron lol

 

[BKennedy]

The battery cables on the Explorers have a tendency to corrode on the inside and its hard to tell from looking at them. You live in a fairly humid environment, I would replace the cables.

 

[DemonMudder]

The battery cables on the Explorers have a tendency to corrode on the inside and its hard to tell from looking at them. You live in a fairly humid environment, I would replace the cables.

And yep, running like a charm. That's what I get for cheap parts. Cables "look" to be fine, and as said: replaced the ends and so far so good. I'll definitely end up looking into replacing the cables too for that exact reason though. But for right now, everything seems good so I'll stick with it. Throwing too much money on repairs right now lol