1993 Explorer XLT problems starting

Hello everyone. New member, but been lurking for some time.

I have a 1993 Explorer XLT, 4WD with automatic transmission. Hoping someone can help shine some light on the situation.

The problem is this. The car has been running fine for a while. Recently, the car needed to be cranked a few times when starting. A couple of days ago, my wife couldn't get the car started until after a few cranks. Then finally, she went to a friend's house and the car wouldn't start.

The starter sounds like it whirls when starting it but the engine doesn't kick in. The battery is good, and I used an external charger to fully charge it just in case it was that, to no avail. I gave the starter a few smacks but wasn't sure how hard I should hit it and that was a no go.

Previously, we had a problem with the emission tubes coming off, which made the car turn off during idling, but that was taken care of and had been running fine since. That was a few months ago and may have been caused by the oil being low but I can't say for sure.

If anyone needs me to check anything else please let me know.

When the key is turned to on, but not to the point of starting the car, the check engine and battery light comes on and when the key is turn to crank the battery light goes off and the check oil light comes on.

The oil level is fine on the car as well as transmission fluid also.

First thing to do is make sure it has fuel, both in the fuel tank as well as to the fuel injectors. The symptoms as you describe them are pretty consistent with a failing fuel pump.

You should also verify that the fuel pump inertia shut off switch is not tripped. I think it will be located in the area of the passenger side kick panel on your 1993 as well.

Do you have a fuel pressure gauge so that you can check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail?

-Rod

Thanks for the response Rod. The car has fuel, which when I asked my wife about gas she responded with a "I'm not even going to answer that question". :grinno: If she's good with anything is the fuel, which she has a thing of not liking it under half so she does fill up often and the needle works so I counted that out.

I forgot to mention that I took the battery out and have a battery charger just in case it was the battery but the battery was fine and even fully charged the problem was exactly the same.

I don't have a fuel pressure gauge but I did check the fuel pump switch and seemed to be pressed down, as it should be. I did buy a Chilton manual which has helped with a few things but at the time didn't notice that all the fuel pump pages had been torn out so I'm still researching on anything fuel-pump related.

turn the key, but dont try to crank it! just turn it you should hear a whirrr sound for about 3 seconds. if not not then it is your fuel pump or relay most likely the pump.
i just did mine a couple weeks ago.

also check spark plugs and wires. if it was the fuel pump, you might be able to start it by pumping the gas or hitting the gas tank, although i dont really suggest that.

I'm getting opinions here that it's the starter. I'm going to replace it by tomorrow and post back the results.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think the car is due for a tune up too so spark plugs are in the near future anyways and I've checked the wires and connections and so far they seem fine.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Certainly someone that can hear the car will be able to give a better-educated suggestion that those of us that have to go off of descriptions, but if the starter is turning over the engine, just the engine isn't firing, that's not a starter issue. However, if you hear the electric starter motor spinning but it's not spinning the engine (no belt rotation) then I would agree that the starter solenoid is the likely issue.

-Rod

Thanks for all the responses and help.

Ultimately, it was the starter. I changed it and now the car is working fine.

I'm still going to go ahead and test the alternator plus a few other things and it served as a good reminder to look over the car anyways.

Not knowing much of anything about cars what threw me off is that the starter was spinning but what I didn't figure was that the gear that turns the flywheel had become loose and was not turning with the starter. Once I took the starter out and took it apart and read a few things online, I realized that it was the starter so I went ahead and bought a new one and changed it.

This forum has been a great resource. I have been searching it for months and have fixed a few things on the car but couldn't find anything on this starter problem, which pushed me to create an account.