Just bought this used, 44,000 miles two days ago..
I'm coming from a '97 Ford Ranger XLT, so I'm a little new to how SUV's are..

Everything was fine on the Friday night drive home..
Saturday afternoon.. drove down to the pet store, went in to do our business, came out, and to my suprise , a vehicle that would not start. Everything powered up when the key was turned, except for it would not turn over and start. A buddy that was with me, checked underneath the hood, and reseated some of the relays, and ensured the cover was pressed down on the box.. she started right up..

well.. today (Sunday), I was stranded again.. Went to fill up at the gas station, turned back on the key to leave.. and same thing.. no start..

when the key was turned, I could hear the relays in the power box clicking as they apparently were working.. Tried resetting the fuel shutoff switch (as it states on a little sticker under the hood), and also disconnected the batter for a few minutes to try to reset everything.. nothing...

We pushed the vehicle out of the way until I could have someone look at it, and my girlfriend decided to try it again, and bam.. it starts right up...

So, my question is: what the hell is the problem with this thing.
Are these Explorers really sensitive to rough roads, and was the fuel shutoff switch activated.. or is it a relay, or what?

Thanks for any help or leads!!

 

Boss Man, my 2 cents.

Starter relay going bad. You said you could hear the relay cliking but the enging would not crank. The conections internal to the relay are dirty/burnt thus not making a good conection. After a few turns of the key the conections make a good contact and "BAG" the truck starts.

I hate intermitent problems and trouble shooting without hands on. I've had this fault a few years back and after I had the chance to get my mulit meter inplaced while the fault was active it was the starter relay (it would click but was only sending 3 volts down to the starter).

Relays are cheep if you want to try and replace it without trouble shooting. If not then try to have test tools (mulit meter and some one to turn the key) handy and test where-ever she decides to not start (let the truck decide where and when).

Hope this helps give you a start point. Let me know how it turns out.

 

Thanks for the input..

Also.. could it have something to do with my PATS ignition key?

I did some research, and came across a point that stated , if your key chains are cluttered with other keys, interferance could result, and therefore.. no start..

 

Good posibility and deffinatly the simplest thing to eliminate.

 

As reams says, remove the excess keys from the keychain. If you're lucky, that's the problem. (It probably isn't because you hear relays clicking; the PATS lockout will not feed power past the module.)

Also check all of the battery cable connections; in particular the negative cable where it grounds to the block (or starter motor). Also the starter relay to starter motor connection.