AnnoyedCarOwner
New Member
- Joined
- October 12, 2023
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- newark, Delaware
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2014 Ford Explorer
Hi all. I am new here. Around a month ago my moms 2014 ford explorer stopped starting up. It's cranks slowly and doesn't start as you can see in the video here:
To make things more confusing, it is accompanied by a p0457 code which according to my research, means that there is a large EVAP leak (loose gas cap). Now i don't know much about cars, but from what I've researched and what others have told me, an EVAP leak shouldn't prevent the car from starting. So i think I'm dealing with two separate issues, but i don't know much about cars so I could be wrong. My main concern is getting the car started though.
Anyways, i foolishly went ahead and replaced the battery, which didn't change anything. I also added gas.
I then purchased a cheap multimeter from my local auto store, and ran a continuity test on the negative cable. It read .5ohms. Then i took the air filter housing off to get access to the wires connected to the starter and tested those, as well as the positive battery cable.
The starter had 3 bolts. The biggest bolt was 13mm and held the biggest wire in place. Then there was another bolt which held a smaller wire in place which was 10mm. The third bolt I wasn't sure about, but after testing i figured out that it is actually the ground connection. (I Initially thought the smaller wire was the ground connection)
I took the bolts off because the outside was kind of dirty and i wanted to test against clean metal just to be safe. I knew that the bigger wire(13mm) was the positive connection, so I ran a continuity test from that positive wire, up to the positive battery cable. The battery was completely disconnected for this test, and i got .5/.4 ohms reading. I honestly cant remember if i did the same test for the ground connection at the starter, up to the negative cable at the battery. If it's important i can go back and do it again.
I also did a voltage test. I tested the battery itself which read 12.16v, then reconnected the battery and ran the same test on the two starter wires using the ground from the 3rd bolt on the starter.
Here's where I get confused. I got a 12.16v reading on the bigger wire that had the 13mm, but i couldn't get any reading whatsoever on the smaller wire that was held in place by the 10mm. Neither voltage nor continuity. Is that normal?
Does anyone know what that wire is used for? If I'm not getting any reading on it, does that mean it could be my problem? In the video I watched, the guy called it a signal wire. So I'm thinking it must not be a closed circuit until its ready to "signal"...idk. I tried turning the ignition key (battery disconnected) but that didn't seem to close the circuit.
The other tests seemed normal. So I'm thinking it must be a bad starter, or something is going on with that "signal" wire which corresponds with the 10mm bolt, or I am missing something because I am not a professional lol. Is there another test I can do to narrow down the problem a little? I would hate to spend money on a new starter if it isn't the problem.
To make things more confusing, it is accompanied by a p0457 code which according to my research, means that there is a large EVAP leak (loose gas cap). Now i don't know much about cars, but from what I've researched and what others have told me, an EVAP leak shouldn't prevent the car from starting. So i think I'm dealing with two separate issues, but i don't know much about cars so I could be wrong. My main concern is getting the car started though.
Anyways, i foolishly went ahead and replaced the battery, which didn't change anything. I also added gas.
I then purchased a cheap multimeter from my local auto store, and ran a continuity test on the negative cable. It read .5ohms. Then i took the air filter housing off to get access to the wires connected to the starter and tested those, as well as the positive battery cable.
The starter had 3 bolts. The biggest bolt was 13mm and held the biggest wire in place. Then there was another bolt which held a smaller wire in place which was 10mm. The third bolt I wasn't sure about, but after testing i figured out that it is actually the ground connection. (I Initially thought the smaller wire was the ground connection)
I took the bolts off because the outside was kind of dirty and i wanted to test against clean metal just to be safe. I knew that the bigger wire(13mm) was the positive connection, so I ran a continuity test from that positive wire, up to the positive battery cable. The battery was completely disconnected for this test, and i got .5/.4 ohms reading. I honestly cant remember if i did the same test for the ground connection at the starter, up to the negative cable at the battery. If it's important i can go back and do it again.
I also did a voltage test. I tested the battery itself which read 12.16v, then reconnected the battery and ran the same test on the two starter wires using the ground from the 3rd bolt on the starter.
Here's where I get confused. I got a 12.16v reading on the bigger wire that had the 13mm, but i couldn't get any reading whatsoever on the smaller wire that was held in place by the 10mm. Neither voltage nor continuity. Is that normal?
Does anyone know what that wire is used for? If I'm not getting any reading on it, does that mean it could be my problem? In the video I watched, the guy called it a signal wire. So I'm thinking it must not be a closed circuit until its ready to "signal"...idk. I tried turning the ignition key (battery disconnected) but that didn't seem to close the circuit.
The other tests seemed normal. So I'm thinking it must be a bad starter, or something is going on with that "signal" wire which corresponds with the 10mm bolt, or I am missing something because I am not a professional lol. Is there another test I can do to narrow down the problem a little? I would hate to spend money on a new starter if it isn't the problem.
