Garage or Repair Shop Recommendations in LA area
 

Hi All,

This is my first time posting and I have a question; does anyone have a good mechanic they can recommend or a garage that does quality work on Ford Trucks? I have a 2000 Expy 4x4 that has been running great so far (190K miles) and I never really had a need for a mechanic for stuff other than routine maint.

A few days ago it started to develop a problem where I would not start without being jumped. It simply won't turn over and I hear a bunch of clicking sounds like in the dash and the speedometer and RPM guages go back and forth. The electrics are still on and everything. Took the battery to Pepboys and they said it was fine.

Any recommendations on a shop would be great, I live in Redondo Beach so places in the SouthBay or even west LA would be cool!

Thanks!

Ty :-X24

Here is a pic of my baby :)
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_dMKfAbor0es/SY...0/100_2252.JPG

IDK that probably may be a real easy fix, the terminals tend to go bad with corrosion. Double check everything and tighten the terminals. You would be upset if you have to tow your truck to a repair shop or even drive it over and have them charge you $100 just to clean your terminals or another simple fix.

^^^ That's a real good recommendation by Bob. ^^^

Ty,

Clean them up at all four ends (both ends of both cables).

Of course, the fellas at Pep Boys likely don't know their backsides from holes in the ground, so you might just have a bad battery anyway.

And lastly, with your mileage on the clock, it's about time for the alternator brushes to be worn to their life-limits, thus not keeping the battery charged.

Report back after checking these simple things.

Pop

OK, so I did as suggested and I checked both wires coming from the battery. Both were corrosion free (as far as where the two wires connect to the battery) and it seemed like a solid connection to me. I then connected the wires again and the truck would not start. The electronics still worked but when I tried to start it, it just made that click sound around the dash area.

Now the funny part is, i waited like 45mins and I just wanted to see what would happen if i tried to start it and the damn thing started right up. I turned it off again and tried to restart it and it won't start. Same issue as before. It will only start consistently when I have it jumped, but if I turn it off after it’s a crap shoot whether it starts back up.
I 100% agree with you I only went to Pep Boys for them to check my battery (I figure they could at least do that right). I would never go to that place for actual service.

Any other thoughts? Any Mechanics referrals?

For some reason it's in back of my mind that its the battery. The reason is the truck is probably driven 4 times a month at the most so wouldn't that do something to the battery?

I don't know if I'd be ready to say it was the battery just yet...from the way you describe it it sounds more like some type of a relay/module problem since the gauges are sweeping and you hear clicking in the dash.

You might want to start a thread in the Expedition forum...you'll get more views from people that are familiar with your particular truck.

First thing I would do is find the starter solenoid. I think on a 2000 it will still have a solenoid on the firewall. It will be about 2" in diameter, about 3" tall, and have 2 big studs on it and 1 or 2 small studs on it. Use a big screwdriver, or your tire iron, and jump across those two large studs. If your starter cranks, you've probably found the problem.

I helped a coworker get his F150 started after work one day when his solenoid had failed. I think his truck was a '99 or '00. It took a while to find his solenoid because it was under some kind of plastic cover. If you trace the big wire back from the starter you can't help but find it. A solenoid is just a big contactor relay. When the contacts get burnt from many years of sparks, they become intermittent, just before they totally fail.

I wonder if this wouldn't be a good candidate to also replace with that huge Stancor relay that we've been replacing the GPR's with.

Remember, however, there's also a set of heavy contacts internal to the starter motor itself.
See: http://springerpop.net/F350/PDFs/Sta...g/starting.pdf

Pop

Well you would never guess what the issue was. After checking almost everything in the world on this truck my dad finally decided enough of me looking like a chicken with his head cut off and he got in there and used some voltmeter or something and it ending up being this thing: GRRRRRR

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/battery2.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...rs/battery.jpg

It looks like it was a simple case of since the truck sits so much that the one of the post became corroded because of the battery. I headed to sears to get that battery replace and of course we added another connection to the cord.

So shes up and running Perfect now. Thanks guys for all your suggestions and help!!!

This is what you said in post #4.

Guess they weren't. :)

Glad you got it fixed easily. Hopefully, inexpensively, too.

Pop