UK second gen Explorer intermittent crank but no start.

[kellen]

Hi from the UK.

I have deliberately not placed this in the UK section, as there is not as much Explorer knowledge over here. However, I am more than happy to hear from anyone in the UK, who has a view.

There are only circa 300 second gen Explorers still on the road in the UK....they are getting rarer with each day.

I have a 4litre V6 auto Explorer, It is a 1998 model. I have owned it since almost new and was a dealer registered truck before that. Has done 176K miles and I know its whole history.

It is a third vehicle and does not get a huge amount of use these days.....but, the family are very attached to it.

Just before the holidays, I tried to start it and it had a flat battery. I bought a new one and it still would not start.

I was concerned there may be PATS or other issues because of the flat battery and lack of use.

I ran a Forscan diagnostic and it came us with a few codes. I did lots of searching on the forum and started by disconnecting the battery and then disconnecting the two cable plugs on the firewall, cleaning them with electronic contact cleaner and reattaching. This seemed to do the job, as it fired us nicely and ran very well. I cleared the codes and they did not return. I was relieved that there were no apparent PATS issues.

I started it and ran another diagnostic between Christmas and New Year and no codes.

Today, I started it and it fired first time. I connected my laptop and ran a Forscan diagnostic...no codes.

I let it run for 15 minutes to get it warned up and circulate the oil. All good so far.

I then turned it off and tried to start it. This time it cranked but no start.

I ran another diagnostic and got the following codes:

B1483 - Brake Pedal Input Circuit Failure

An odd one, but, probably not relevant to the intermittent non-start issue?

B1352 - ignition key-in circuit failure. I suspect the intermittent issue may relate to this, but would appreciate any sage advice that you can offer from the US. Could it just be a worn ignition barrel causing intermittent issues?

There are no other codes and these two were also showing before Christmas.

Thanks in advance for your help. It is not really drivable at present, as you can never be sure if it will start.

Thanks guys.

 

[salvaje]

Not sure if you got this remedied, but I had a similar problem and it was the crankshaft position sensor on my '98.

 

[allmyEXes]

Is yours 4.0 SOHC? I had the same issue as salvaje.