please help! Explorer won't start

[miked_94]

Have replaced the battery and starter to no solution. I can put the key in the ignition and try to turn it over and nothing will happen. Plenty of battery power. I have run out of solutions and I can't think of anything else that it could be. Please let mo know what I am not looking at. Thank you.

[NoXferCase]

OK, this a really a SWAG but check (books and such, or call the dealer) and see if there is a fuse inline between the battery and the starter. (REALLY! Not the fuse box, inline on the battery cable!)

Up until a few months ago I had NEVER heard of this, but my sister-in-law's '94 Grand Marquis had the same problem. Everything seemed fine, but absolutely NOTHING when you turned the key. Had to pay to have it diagnosed and that's what it turned out to be.

NOT one of Ford's better ideas........

Actually, you could look yourself. I never saw a reason to actually go and see where it is.... Crawling under a Grand Marquis is a little frightning

[Dougs97]

Originally Posted by miked_94

Have replaced the battery and starter to no solution. I can put the key in the ignition and try to turn it over and nothing will happen. Plenty of battery power. I have run out of solutions and I can't think of anything else that it could be. Please let mo know what I am not looking at. Thank you.

I used to own a 1992 Explorer. My wife drove it. It would not start one day. It seemed like it was the starter. No! I went to the Ford Mechanic and he wanted the big bucks to replace the starter. My dad looked at it and jumpered the started at the solenoid located on the right sub fender. It is a brown little round thing with two studs coming off of it. One stud is covered to protect from sparking to ground.

Open the hood, take the vehicle out of gear, touch a screw driver accross the electrodes of the brown solenoid. Your model should have this. Your starter should come to life and spin. If that works, the new part is $10. Remember to disconect the battery when you replace this part. If that is the problem.

Let me know how it works out. I am always going to look for the remote solenoid and replace that before ever replacing a starter.

Good luck.

[srercrcr]

Sorry, NOXFERCASE, I think putting a fuse (probably a fusible link) in the battery to starter line is the best and most belated improvement they could have made. Think about it....all these fuses are in place to protect little wire circuits if you short a circuit like turn signals, horn etc, but if that huge copper cable shorts, you have NO protection. Last year, my 78 Grand Prix damn near caught on fire....the cable is routed through vnyl coated brackets on its way to the starter. Well after all these years the vinyl is gone, leaving a knife-edge metal bracket. That knife edge cut through the coating on the cable....super short! No fuse....smoke poured out from under the hood. Opened the hood, couldn't stop it cause I couldn't remove the cable at the battery. The cable coating was melted all the way to the starter! Bottom line: The biggest circuit in the car should have a fuse.

[Opera House]

In case that wasn't clear, jumper the two large terminals of the solenoid on the fender. That will make it crank even without a key. Ony about 12A so this won't weld anything.

If that works, try jumpering the battery side post to the little pin of the solenoid.

If both these work, the problem is likely the neutral safety switch on the transmission. Try wiggeling that.

This all assumes that you have headlights that work. If not then likely the battery cable going over to the fender solenoid.

[NoXferCase]

Originally Posted by srercrcr

Sorry, NOXFERCASE, I think putting a fuse (probably a fusible link) in the battery to starter line is the best and most belated improvement they could have made.

OK, I won't say it's not safer. But if it's such a great idea I wish more companies would do it. I wish more people knew about it (After the dealer fixed it I have yet to find anybody short of an SAE Certified mechanic who says anything other than "you're kidding" or "really?"). I wish the manuals like Haynes told you about it......

Would you settle for "Ford could have done a better job of documenting this idea"? (although if you remember the old commercials it doesn't have quite as good a "ring" to it )

[Opera House]

Not sure how good the idea is. For every case it would fuse in a situation, there would be 10,000 vehickes that wouldn't start because of a poor connection. Every crimp in a vehicle is a potential cause of problems. With the new geared starters currents are a lot lower and the wires are smaller. These cables are more likely to fuse on their own. I'd rather see better insulation on the wire.

[maggieswil]

could all this cause the explorer to die when the head lights are turned on?

[XLT03]

I agree with Opera House. Try solenoid and then the battery cable. The battery cable was problematic in the early generation of Explorers. Cables are expensive and are very long.

[97chevyman]

try selonoid.