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2000 Ford Ranger 2.5L will not start


Leever2000

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First I am new to the Ranger Station and this is my first post!

The issues with my Ranger started last week. I went to work on 9/11 but when leaving to go home the Ranger would not start/no crank but a good solid click. I had it towed home and commenced troubleshooting - checked fuses, jiggled cables and even thumped the starter and nothing. I then removed the starter and had it benched tested at the local Advanced Auto. The test proved the starter was dead, so bought new one installed and Ranger started right up (that was last Saturday. Started a couple more times over the remainder of the weekend and went to work Monday and even returned home Monday evening. Attempted to go to work Tuesday morning and back to square one - the Ranger would not start except the click that was there in the beginning was not there (the click sounded like the solenoid was engaging). Tuesday figured maybe the ignition relay went bad so bought one and replaced and still no start.

Thoughts
- maybe the cables are corroded and creating some higher
resistance
- maybe the new starter went bad

What are the thoughts and recommendations?
 


tomw

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You can check your connections by using a VOM that monitors voltage across two points. If the connections are good, when you activate the relay, for example, a monitor of the voltage would show no or very tiny difference when the load is applied. Given the meter has good contact, it will 'see' the full 12.x volts. If the load has bad contacts on the wire feeding from the battery, it will NOT see the 12.x volts. So, touch the VOM leads to the contacts(post?) and try to activate. If you see voltage that is 'off' you know the terminals are not making good connection.
All that said, I would meter the battery idle, when you wake up, doing nothing. Then try the starter with the meter still on the battery. If the starter is asking for juice, the battery voltage will drop a bit. If nothing happens, then go to the starter relay on the inner fender. If you have one, it should have the big red cable from the + terminal on one side, and the starter motor feed cable on the other, along with one small terminal on the 'front'. If you jumper the small terminal to the battery side of the relay, the relay will turn on, and close the contacts to connect the two big cables together. You should see a bit of sparkage, AND the starter motor may turn the engine, so BE CLEAR when you do this. If jumpering makes the starter motor spin, you have a problem back towards the ignition switch, possibly the clutch pedal lockout if you have a manual, or the ignition switch itself.
tom
 

Leever2000

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I do not have the starter solenoid on the fender like most of the other Ford's. I have a starter motor with solenoid in one. Now I do have a starter relay in the Battery Junction Box on the driver side fender but there are no exposed terminals that I can see to check VDC drop across to see if relay working.

1. I can start by checking the idle VDC on the battery by checking voltage across the battery and should read something like 12.8 VDC.
2. While meter leads are still on the pos & neg terminals have second person turn ignition to start and if connections are good should see a VDC drop and if connections are not good the reading will read 12.8 VDC.

The first time around I replaced the starter and it worked for a few days (Saturday thru Monday).

The one item I have not even thought about is the ignition switch. (I have automatic so no clutch switch). Where is the ignition switch located, is it in the steering column? I replaced the ignition switch on my 1996 Escort and if I remember correctly the symptoms were similar except the Escort was manual and could always start it by rolling start.
 

RonD

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Welcome to TRS :)

I would suspect new starter motor

My thinking is that if old starter was bad then that is why you had a no start, not any wiring issues.
If new starter worked for a few days then that confirms no wiring issues.
So if starter quit working again then most likely the new starter is bad.

"New" used to mean "tested and working"
"New" now means "you test it for us and if it fails we will replace it"

So never ever assume new part is not the problem, or you will be chasing your tail until you finally come back to the "new part" being bad, lol.

On the starter motor is a smaller "S" Terminal, yellow/blue wire, that activates the relay/solenoid on the starter motor when it gets 12volts.
Use a jumper wire from Battery Positive and touch it to that smaller terminal, if starter motor is OK engine should crank, if it isn't then it will just "Click"

You can check cable on larger terminal on starter motor, make sure it is clean and tight, if its not then that can cause the "click" no crank as well


Ignition switch is under steering column above brake pedal area
You do have a Clutch by-pass connector in that same area.
There is a DTR switch/sensor on the transmission that must be fully in Park or Neutral to pass the 12volt to starter relay in engine fuse box

PATS anti-theft system GROUNDS that starter relay to allow starting, but if that was the problem Theft light on dash would flash rapidly when key was turned on

Fuse #24 in that cab fuse box pass the 12v to the clutch by-pass and DTR sensor, so if it blows then no start, but also no "click"

Ignition switch(in START-12volts)-----Fuse #24-------Clutch by-pass------------DTR sensor-----------Starter relay(in engine fuse box)
 
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Leever2000

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You have totally laid out what I need to look at.

My order I will check later today -

Fuse #24 in that cab fuse box pass the 12v to the clutch by-pass and DTR sensor, so it it blows then no start, but also no "click" -
1. I do not get the "Click" this sounds like my symptom. I will check Fuse 24 in the cab fuse box. what size fuse and what is Fuse 24?
2. DTR sensor - haven't tried starting in neutral this time around. I have an automatic assume I would not have the clutch bypass switch?
3. If the 2 above are ok then I will replace the Ignition switch
4. I totally agree that the starter may be the problem but before I go that route again I plan to do the above 3 steps first.

Ill let you know what I find - Thanks for very well defined post! Dave
 

RonD

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Fuse #24 is 7.5amp

All Rangers are wired for manual transmissions, an extra wiring harness is added for Automatics, part of that harness is a plug in for the Clutch switch, above brake pedal area, it extends those wires to the DTR sensor on the drivers side of the automatic trans

You can test fuse #24 for 12v with key in START position, that will tell you if ignition switch is working and reliable
 

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Also you can measure voltage at starter. You should have B+ at large wire on starter. You should have B+ voltage all the time at this wire. Next have someone try and start the truck while you test voltage at power wire on starter solenoid. You should have B+ while trying to start it. If you have B+ at both wires it's your starter or the connections. It takes 2 minutes to do this test.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
 

Leever2000

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This is what I did let me know if this correct? I pulled fuse 24 (7.5 amp) and put the meter across the empty fuse socket then turned key to start and zero VDC tried multiple times.
 

RonD

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No.

You need to Ground the meter and then turn key to START, then test both of the fuses contacts in the panel, one will have 12v from ignition switch, the other will have 0volts and goes to Clutch switch by-pass----DTR----starter relay

The fuse passes 12volts from one contact to the other, if there is a short then fuse blows.
So no Ground for a volt meter anywhere in a fuse box
Ground it on a metal bolt near the fuse box

Any Fuse has a "Power contact" and a "Load contact", so only 1 contact, in this case, should have 12v when fuse is out, power contact
Load contact goes to the device being powered

In theory, what you did should have worked because at the end of the line, starter relay, it would be grounded by PATS, but hard to make that work in reality :)
 
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Leever2000

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ok that worked better thanks. From one fuse socket to ground was 0 the other socket to ground was 12 VDC.

I tried the second step which I tried the first time before the starter replacement. Placing in neutral and it started. Didn't think that would work but where is the transmission DTR sensor? Did I say it started.
 
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RonD

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DTR sensor is on the shift rod, on drivers side of transmission

The shift cable from cab moves the shift rod into its various positions, the DTR reads that position.

Usually this issue on Ford trucks is a loose shifter assembly...........IN THE CAB
So shift rod doesn't move far enough for DTR to be in Park, but trans is in Park

Google: Ford Ranger loose column shifter

Explorers and F-series had the same issues

Could be anything from a loose screw to a broken shift tube in the column
 
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Leever2000

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First off I'm happy that I do not have to remove the starter again and secondly the YouTube video is very good and plan to check the transmission linkage and hopefully have it all fixed this evening. I have been noticing that my transmission indication lately has been sloppy. My Ranger just happened to have starter problems first and then that sort of masked or led me in multiple directions anyways you guys kept me on the straight and narrow. Thanks for all of the help.
 

Leever2000

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Watched a couple of the YouTube videos and tightened the 2 screws (one was quite loose) and now it is starting in Park> success
 

RonD

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Good work :icon_thumby:

Thanks for posting the fix
 

Leever2000

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Well I'm getting tired of saying everything is fixed to just turn around and find something else. I was at the store this morning went to leave for home and smelled a hint of burnt electronics and immediately started to watch the voltmeter (normally sits a little more than 50%)and it was a little less than 50 % and then it went down to 25%. I made it home and left it running and got my multimeter and measured the VDC across the battery and it was confirmed it was 11.75 VDC. Looks like Ill be repalcing the alternator unless there are any other thoughts. All don't take this personal but I don't want to post all the time.
 

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