2002 Ford expedition 5.4 No crank/ No Start
I have an 02 ford expedition 5.4 it was running fine but i don't drive it very
often. I took it to run a few errands and made 3 or 4 stops to different places.
The last place it wouldn't start. Lights and every thing work but only getting
one single click when the key is turned (I believe this is the solenoid on the
firewall making the click) I Tried to jump it did not work. I tried to start in
neutral and wiggled shift lever no changes. I Tried to tap the starter but that
did nothing. The battery voltage is good. Battery was replaced earlier this
year. I changed the battery cable ends as they were a little loose and I put a
charger on the battery. I turned the crank from the harmonic balancer bolt to
see if the engine was seized and it turned. I don,t want to throw money at
this without troubleshooting more. Where should I start now? Anyone have
any ideas what this could be?
I used a donor vehicle to try to jump start it when it first happened and after I had it towed home. Did not start. There are no codes I checked that also. The battery is new from a few months ago.
Two voltage circuits at starter motor, one comes from battery, hot all the time. The other circuit goes hot when starter relay is energized. The starter motor should ground through engine block. Use meter across battery posts, everything off, the generic spec for a full charge is 12.6 volts. Use digital multimeter across battery posts, have helper turn key to crank, what is the reading? If it drops below 9.6 volts, that isn't good. You could probably use a long shank screwdriver across proper terminals at starter motor, hopefully the starter motor will crank the engine? If you try that make sure tranny is in park or neutral and parking brake is set, because your bypassing several things. If you think problem with starter motor, you can take it off lay it on the ground, hook up jumper cables properly from charged battery to starter motor, at the least it should kick out the drive gear and spin. I can only help with testing. good luck.
I believe I tried to cross over the relay with a screwdriver that night. If nothing happens when I do that what would you suggest? Thanks for the help!
This is part of diagram for starter system. What you did with screwdriver should have worked, if battery has a full charge. In the diagram, you can see the fuse, under ignition switch. That's hot with key in the crank position. The A after tranny range sensor goes to control side of starter relay. I agree with Ed, if battery down, we're just spinning our wheels. You've been given all the info I can think of to do testing. You have to do the testing.
Same thing happened with my 2001. After spending more money than I will admit to, it was the PCM relay. And an easy fix after all.
