00 Windstar wouldn't start

[Beaker60]

Hi.

I had trouble starting my 00 Windstar last week and searched the forum for answers and thought I would share my experience in case anyone else comes across this issue.

The problem was that the engine would crank, the theft light would flash rapidly and the engine wouldn't start. This first happened on Christmas Eve last year and then happened for the second time two weekends ago, and then again last Thursday.

There are a lot of suggestions in the forum for this problem including shorts in wires, the PCM, faulty relays, faulty anti-theft systems and other things.

I was about to set aside a day to investigate all the potential solutions outlined in the forum one by one when I came across another semi-related post indicating that starting problems could be attributed to low battery power. I checked the battery last week after my wife had been trying to start the car and it was down to a little over 10 volts. I gave it a charge with a battery charger which brought it up to just over 12 volts. It still wouldn't start.

Looking at the battery again, I noticed that the voltage would drop one hundredth of a volt about every second. It was like watching a shuttle launch countdown. Within a few minutes, the battery was below 12 volts. Obviously the battery wasn't able to hold a charge. After only a few seconds of cranking with the battery fully charged, the voltage would drop down below 12 volts again.

Now, there is a post on the forum that mentions that a battery is 25% charged when it reads 12.0 volts, 50% at 12.2, 75% at 12.5 and full at 12.7 volts. That was the key to me figuring this out since someone else had mentioned that insufficient power to any number of components in the chain could cause a no-start issue with similar symptoms.

I hooked up booster cables to our other car and the Windstar started right up - just like it did the other times I had this problem. So with 14 volts coming from the other car, the problem went away. So, I zipped over to Napa, picked up a new battery and installed it. 60 minutes elapsed time to repair, and no problems since then.

Lesson learned: it sometimes is the simple thing.

Next project: Blend Door Actuator

[northern piper]

yep, gotta cover the basics before jumping to the advanced problems. Charging and battery problems cause all sorts of headaches. Good on'ya to look with the volt meter. It helps me out tons too!