96 Taurus Wagon won't start

The last few days my car has struggled to turn over, but today it wouldn't crank. I took the battery and had it checked. It checked out fine, but they said it still may need a charge for an hour, so I just decided to get a new one. Put the new one on, checked all the cables and made sure all connections were fine. I got in and put the key in and turned it to the on position. All the lights, dash lights, radio, and etc turns on, but when I try to start it all it does is give a click sound. Exactly every 5 attempts to start the door locks go up and down. Please...if anyone has any idea to what may be the problem I'd appreciate it so much!

The last few days my car has struggled to turn over, but today it wouldn't crank. I took the battery and had it checked. It checked out fine, but they said it still may need a charge for an hour, so I just decided to get a new one. Put the new one on, checked all the cables and made sure all connections were fine. I got in and put the key in and turned it to the on position. All the lights, dash lights, radio, and etc turns on, but when I try to start it all it does is give a click sound. Exactly every 5 attempts to start the door locks go up and down. Please...if anyone has any idea to what may be the problem I'd appreciate it so much!


Check for 12 volts at the starter to start with. Tap lightly on the starter and see if that helps. I would get the starter tested also. Which engine??

Its the 3.0 V6
I haven't used the meter to check the starter but I did take and tap the starter while trying to start it and got nothing...

You should make sure the battery cables are clean and tight. If so, connect the meter to the battery terminals, then have someone try to start the car and see what the voltage drops down to. If you don't see much of a drop on the voltage, that would suggest the starter isn't trying to start the engine and the problem is likely with the starter assembly.

-Rod

I've got a local mechanic friend coming in the morning around 10am. I will post what we find out. Thanks for all the ideas so far, you all have been helpful! :-)

There were two 3.0 V6 engines available that year (actually 3 if you count the flex-fuel). So a little more information is needed than just that. There is the 24 valve dual overhead cam duratec (24V DOHC) and the single overhead valve vulcan. The duratec has those DOHC letters in very large print across the top of the motor. The Vulcan just has 3.0 L across the top. They are very different engines with different transmissions with hardly any parts transferrable from one to the other.