2004 Ranger starting problem

[redneck15431]

I have a 2004 FX4, 4.0, auto, 91k miles, and when I came home from the gym last night, did a few things and jumped back in it to head to my fiance's, I hit the key, and the starter turned over for a brief second before it acted like what appeared to be a dead battery. So I got the keys to my dads work truck, fired it up and connected jumper cables between the two, and tried to turn the truck over, and it did nothing but click. So then at that point I'm fairly frustrated, got out the battery charger, hooked it up and turned it to 50A jump mode...and when I turned the key over, all kinds of funny noises were coming out of the speakers, the door chime had a crackle to it and the lights were acting funny. When I turned the key to the "start" position, once again it did nothing but click. So I concluded from there it was definitely a short somewhere.

I didn't get much of a chance to fool with it last night since it was 8:30 and spitting raindrops here and there, so I pushed it out of the way and I'm now running my ol' reliable 94 ranger. I have noticed that the starter seemed like it was sounding weak, so could these problems be associated with a bad starter? Or a bad solenoid/relay? Like I said, I haven't fooled with it too much yet, but I would greatly appreciate some guidance as to what to look out for.

Thanks!

 

[modelageek]

I have a 2004 FX4, 4.0, auto, 91k miles, and when I came home from the gym last night, did a few things and jumped back in it to head to my fiance's, I hit the key, and the starter turned over for a brief second before it acted like what appeared to be a dead battery. So I got the keys to my dads work truck, fired it up and connected jumper cables between the two, and tried to turn the truck over, and it did nothing but click. So then at that point I'm fairly frustrated, got out the battery charger, hooked it up and turned it to 50A jump mode...and when I turned the key over, all kinds of funny noises were coming out of the speakers, the door chime had a crackle to it and the lights were acting funny. When I turned the key to the "start" position, once again it did nothing but click. So I concluded from there it was definitely a short somewhere.

I didn't get much of a chance to fool with it last night since it was 8:30 and spitting raindrops here and there, so I pushed it out of the way and I'm now running my ol' reliable 94 ranger. I have noticed that the starter seemed like it was sounding weak, so could these problems be associated with a bad starter? Or a bad solenoid/relay? Like I said, I haven't fooled with it too much yet, but I would greatly appreciate some guidance as to what to look out for.

Thanks!

do the headlights and high beams work?..........if so I would suspect starter, starter solenoid, relay, "starter control circuit"

 

[redneck15431]

I haven't tried the headlights or highbeams yet, but thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Onebadezgo]

Had this happen on my 03, (low voltage issue) was dirty battery cables/posts ending up replacing them.

 

[redneck15431]

Well I ended up working late last night so I didn't really get to investigate too much, but I did hook the battery back up and as soon as I did that my horn started making this growling\clicking noise. No other accessories were turned on. When I tried to turn on my headlights, the noise coming from the horn stopped, but the lights did not come on. I started to tear into the steering column but didn't get too far because it was getting dark on me. I'm hoping tonight I will be able to spend some quality time on it.

I seriously don't know what could have happened. The truck was running like a top, I had the A/C on, radio up, everything seemed normal. And I consider myself very familiar with vehicles, very confident in my mechanical skills, and to boot I'm an Electrical Engineer. I turned the truck off, and it honestly wasn't even 5 minutes before I hopped back in to leave and all of this happens.

 

[Onebadezgo]

Like ive mentioned a corroded bat. cable caused my truck to do the same thing. Dosnt take much time to peel an inch of insulation back off the wire on the battery(positive and negetive) and give it a good cleanin' with some baking soda and water.

 

[TimR]

check all battery cable connections. loosen clean and re-tighten all of them, I would bet big money on the cable connection, either at the solenoid or starter, but it could be any cable, even the ground. Especially if they are universal add-on connectors!

 

[redneck15431]

Alright I will clean all connections tonight when I get home. The battery terminal connections i know did have a few spots of corrosion but nothing severe, I will get in depth with it when I get home today. I worked 12.5 hours yesterday, so once again my daylight was shot. Today is looking to be a lot better, so I will let you guys know what I find out.

Thanks again!

 

[rags]

Don"t forget to check and clean the gound cable at the engine!!

 

[redneck15431]

Well problem fixed. I got home from work yesterday and decided to clean my battery cables and post with some baking soda, water and a brush. Got everything spot free clean and reconnected the battery. No Luck. So my next step was to remove the starter and disconnect that circuit to see if there really was a short somewhere in the starter circuit. Did that and no luck. So next thing was to tear into the dash because I thought maybe the ignition switch may have been shorting out. Went through all my connections and everything appeared to be fine. No kinked wires, no discolored or soft spots or poor connections. By then it was dark so I had called it a night.

I borrowed my brothers F-250 this morning to run a few errands, and for anyone that lives around SW PA, you know hot it's been the past few days. It was quite discouraging and de-motivational but I decided to tough it out. I should mention that in between of all the things I tried, I had a Multi-meter handy checking voltages and current being drawn. The battery, disconnected from the truck, read 12.7 something volts each time, however, when I connected the battery the voltage would drop down to around 3-4 volts. I should have done this from the word go, but I decided to connect a marine battery that we have laying in the garage to the truck. Then BAM! Suddenly all my electronics worked fine. I drove out to the parts store, picked up a new battery and everything is all good again. I've had batteries go bad on me before, but I never had one that did this. Thanks for your help everyone!