Need Help! 03 Explorer

[H8IMPORTS]

I haven't been back in here in awhile. I sold my explorer. I'm trying to help a buddy of mine out and I know people here should be able to help. This is what is going on.

It's a 2003 Ford Explorer 4wd. He was driving it and the Battery light came on and it started dragging trying to crank. Yesterday they tried to leave for work it wouldn't crank so he put a jumper box on it and it cranked up. He pulled out of the driveway and it died and won't crank now. He raised the hood and the battery cable ends where broke and corroded. So he had somebody (not me) come and put the Lead cheap battery cable ends on. Now it still won't crank. All it will do is click. So I came over last night and looked and the battery was dead so I swapped to a good hot battery in it and it would still just click. So I crawled under it and beat on the starter and still wouldn't do anything. So I got a screwdriver and tried jumping the solenoid on the starter and nothing would happen. So I thought it was the starter. So we went and got a new one and they tested the old one and it tested just fine. We got the new one just in case. It was 11:00 last night and didn't want to drive back out to Auto Zone. I thought maybe me dropping it on the ground may have got the Starter unstuck. We kept the core and we are going to return the new one. We put the new starter on and it won't do anything. I can't even get it to click now. So I am going to pull the new one off and put the old one back on that tested good and see if it will atleast click again. Anything else that anybody can think of for me to check? I really need to get this going for them it's their only car to drive. Thanks

p.s. Sorry for the wall of text! lol

 

[Number4]

If the battery cables were that bad, it's possible that the corrosion has moved down into the cable. Then you move the cable around. Could have broken and or high resistant wires. I'd try the cables and check fuses.

 

[BaggedSplash]

get your battery tested. you could have a dead cell in it which would cause it not to crank.

 

[H8IMPORTS]

If the battery cables were that bad, it's possible that the corrosion has moved down into the cable. Then you move the cable around. Could have broken and or high resistant wires. I'd try the cables and check fuses.

I will try the cables next. Thanks

get your battery tested. you could have a dead cell in it which would cause it not to crank.

I thought the same thing but swapped the battery from the car I drove over there which I know was good and it didn't help any. Sorry I didn't say that in the Original post.

 

[H8IMPORTS]

I looked at the wires and they looked good. I didn't see any corrosion inside the wires. Anything else to check?

 

[Number4]

I looked at the wires and they looked good. I didn't see any corrosion inside the wires. Anything else to check?

The corrosion wouldn't necessarily be visible. It's a coating on the copper. You can see it on exposed copper as it's brown in color. In this case, it'd work its way down the wire under the sheathing. If the ends were so bad they had to be removed, you can almost bet the corrosion went down the cables length. This is a fairly common problem. You could clean up the ends and not know it's under sheathing. One test would be to flex it, corroded cables are more ridged and may make cracking noises.

Another simple check. The lead battery ends themselves can be corroded though not visible. Did you clean the inside of the cable ends with a wire battery terminal brush? As well as the battery terminals themselves? It doesn't take much, especially on the ground side, to disconnect the battery.

 

[H8IMPORTS]

We cut a peice of the insulation off and the inside the wire and it looked fine. I guess it still could bad but it looked fine. The other guy put brand new lead ends on the wires and we cleaned the termimals on the battery.

 

[HISSIN50]

Jumper cables can be run in parallel to the existing cables to help diagnose an insufficient load-carry ability in the OEM cables.

 

[Number4]

Jumper cables can be run in parallel to the existing cables to help diagnose an insufficient load-carry ability in the OEM cables.

That's great idea. Run the positive alone first, if it doesn't work, clamp the neg to the battery and engine block. Thing is, if it's the cables it'd be a cheaper fix. Best to positively eliminate them as the problem.

 

[H8IMPORTS]

WE GOT IT!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys! The Jumper cable idea worked! I still don't understand why it wouldn't crank but it works now. The power side was fine but it needed a ground so we thought the ground wire was bad so we replaced it still nothing. So I took the new wire and moved it from where it was factory and put it to the front cover of the engine and it fired right up. So I will move the ground wire later to the bottom side of the engine but it works now. Thanks for the ideas and all the help!!!!

 

[Phisherman]

I had an old Club Wagon which had the ground wire completely corrode on both ends first. Just cleaning the area where it grounds is probably the best idea. I'm not too smart, but changing the location of the battery ground is probably not a good idea. Maybe someone smarter will chime in?

 

[esclamada]

 

[H8IMPORTS]

It's actually in a better spot now then where it was. It was just on top of the spring mount. And I have no clue why it would be there. All cars I have ever messed with have been grounded straight to the engine.