Suspected starter failure, then total loss of all electrical systems...

[Chris RX-7]

So my 95 explorer would not start this morning, I immediately grabbed the jumper cables and attempted to jump start it, nothing happened. I would hear a single click from the starter then all electrical would die sans the door chime and door lights. So suspecting a faulty starter relay i took the relay off, cleaned the connections and put it back on, then I took the battery to advanced auto parts to get it load tested it. I just reinstalled the battery and the relay and now I have no electrical at all in the vehicle. I also tried the old tap on the starter with a hammer trick to no luck.

What do you guys think, starter problem or faulty electrical wiring.

 

[Yomie]

Almost sounds like you have a bad starter or solenoid

 

[winsorcoke]

Check your battery cables good. The single click with power outage for me has always been a bad battery connection. Could be a bad cable end, or a bad connection where it grounds to the block, or corrosion. Just start wiggling cables and see if the lights come back on.

 

[marragtop]

Definitely sounds cable related. Keep in mind that cables can corrode from the inside out. The cable may look good but still be bad.

 

[skoal_mint]

Yup, check cables first..

I had this problem and the EF guys helped my out right away.. My cables looked fine, but once I cut open the cable it was filled with corrosion