Starter won't engage

[rcplanebuilder]

05 Explorer XLT

I backed the boat into the garage, unplugged it, and shut the truck off.

Today, I have full electrical, and full battery, but the starter won't engage.

The starter relay in the fuse box is clicking normally. No starter. Haven't found a bad fuse either.

I recently lost a fuse for the trailer "running lights" boating last time. So, this time I unplugged the trailer lights when dunking the trailer.

The starter is tied to the brake pedal. I'm wondering if I lost a trailer brake light circuit, and it's not registering that the brake pedal is depressed when turning the key?

It was, and still is, raining, and fathers day, and I had $60 worth of food ordered for pickup when I discovered that my truck won't start. So, tomorrow AM I will need to work quickly before going to work.

I have checked under the hood fuses, and a few under the dash fuses. Ran it in and out of park a few times, no luck. Rain is not good for troubleshooting.

Any suggestions? Everything seems normal, just no starter. Tapping the starter and solenoid with a hammer didn't help either.

 

[Lacky01]

had that trouble recently, ended up being a bad relay. you may try a new one, I'm not sure how to test them though...

with the vehicle in park and the e brake on, you may try jumping power straight from your battery to your solenoid. if it cranks over, then you need to trace out the glitch in the system. if it does nothing, then have the starter/solenoid tested. BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU START YOUR TRUCK FROM UNDERNEATH!!!
I'm pretty sure you know that but I would hate to hear that you got squished.

best of luck to ya, I hope you get it going!

 

[rcplanebuilder]

Thanks, that was indeed good advice, and I was headed that direction.

But.... I actually got bit on this one. Understand I've spent my life being an aircraft tech. and now that that world has ended for most everyone in the industry, I fix CNC's for a living. So I know troubleshooting, but, I don't do cars.

As such, I can tell you that a cruise control is a PID system, just like anti skid systems on aircraft, with a proportional, and integral, and a derivitive control. But, I don't deal with cars. So without a manual, I can only speculate on exactly what all the inputs are, and locations of the systems, etc... I know what I am looking for, I just don't know where to find them.

I am also not a thief. I don't steal cars. Or I would have never gotten bit by this either.

So, after swapping all the relays, and checking all the fuses, and checking voltages and such, I determined there was nothing wrong with the truck.

The only coincidence that was bugging me, was that after parking my boat in the garage at midnight, and getting out of a wet swimsuit, showering, and bathing the wet stinky dog, and cleaning up the boat, and putting wet towels in the wash, etc... ... I lost my key. I never lose my key. So ..... I used my spare key that I got from the dealer when I bought the used vehicle to get me out the door to pick up food.

After determining that there was NOTHING wrong with the vehicle, I called a dealer, and asked if my vehicle was high tech enough to have one of those fancy transistorised coded keys in the security system that I've heard about....Since that was the only common thread I could find. Different key, truck won't start. "Yep. You do! And if you have tried using the wrong key too many times, it has now you locked out for another hour or two." D'oh!

So, after searching everywhere for over an hour... hoping the key didn't get taken away by the garbage man on garbage day today, I found it. (I never lose my keys, obviously, because I never even tried the spare in 2 years, lol)

So, why would a dealer sell me a vehicle with a spare key that wasn't coded to the vehicle? Rhetoric. Arg!

Bottom line, I got "punk'd" by my vehicle.

Now I know, and maybe this will help someone else in the future here too.

Symptoms: Everything works fine, but no starter engagement. Answer: Are you using your spare key, that isn't coded to the vehicle?

I am smarter now. ...Spend more time finding the key, and less time rushing to troubleshoot and get the truck started. The key is the key.

Now, they tell me it's going to cost $130 dollars for 2 spare keys, and another $100 for a fob. $230 for spare keys. .... Nice. Good thing I didn't buy it from them, or I would have let them have it, lol. ..

Cheers.

 

[Lacky01]

very cool info about the planes!!!

That's crazy! I didn't even think about the PATS system. all our trucks have it from 98 on.

oh well, live and learn. good job on gettin it figured out