I've a 2006 E-350 van that is throwing me for a loop. Before today, it ran fine. Then, while the interior was getting a wipe-down, the kid cleaning it was listening to the radio (key in, engine off) and suddenly everything died.

My wife went out to check on it and couldn't get it to start. She says it was making a grinding noise under the hood when she turned the key. Noise, but no turnover.

When I go out to see what the matter is, the noise under the hood sounds like a rapid clicking (wife heard this too) but still no turnover.

Then, an hour or so later, I go back out to spend some more time on it and see if a jump start might help. This time, when I open the door, I immediately hear a soft, very rapid clicking sound coming from inside the van. I sit in the seat and notice that all the needles on all the dials on the instrument cluster are vibrating ("fluttering" might be a better way to put it) which is making the clicking sound I heard. When I insert the key, the "fluttering" and the clicking sound become even more rapid. But when I turn the key to start the engine, everything stops - the "fluttering," the clicking, everything. There's no turnover, no starter noise, no noise of any kind from under the hood and no noise from inside the vehicle.

When you turn the key back from trying to start the engine, the "fluttering" starts again. It doesn't stop when you remove the key. In fact, at this point, it goes on all the time, except when you're actually trying to start the engine.

I tried jump starting it anyhow, just to see if it made any difference. It didn't.

Then, on a whim, I disconnected the battery. When I reconnected it, the "fluttering" was gone. But as soon as I opened the door, it started up again. Still no luck getting the van started though.

Anyone got any ideas what's going on here?

 

There's another forum here entitled Electrical Systems/Wiring accessible from the Forum Jump drop down box at the bottom of this page. I could speculate something like keyless entry or delayed lighting may be at the root of this however I have no experience at all with those systems. Obviously something has failed allowing these stray voltages in the wrong place and necessary voltages stopped in other places.

I wonder if the starting solenoid has failed, stuck closed?

Best of luck------hope its nothing seriously expensive!!

 

I think the battery is dead.

 

That too Mark but any idea what exactly causes the symptoms he describes? One of the oddest things I've heard in quite a while.

 

My Lincoln LS does exactly what is described when the battery is severly discharged. It seems that the computer is cycling on and off as the draw drops the voltage below whatever level necessary to keep thing running. The voltage is borderline so the ecm/bcm keeds trying to come on, cycle all necessary relays, the voltage drops and the computers protect themselves. Usually, it wil do this until some charge isback in the battery.

If a charge gets it going, replace the battery. It sounds like its had it.

 

What causes that is a dead battery. A new battery will fix the problem.

 

It sounds like a battery problem to me too; it'd sure be nice to receive a follow-up from the orig. poster.

 

Sorry about the late follow-up.

The van would jump start and run fine, but after a couple hours sitting, it wouldn't start again.

I removed the battery and took it in to test it. They had to charge it up before they could test it, but the test came back that the battery was good.
Once I put it back in, everything has been working fine.

I suspect, that either the anti-theft system was causing the problem and having the battery out for a few hours cleared whatever that glitch was, or the battery was so low that it wasn't getting charged up enough by how long I was running the van after jump starting it.

In any event, it's all running fine now.

Thanks for the tips.

 

Yep dead battery. Flickering is caused by low power; relays can energize, then when they do, the draw on the circuit is too high for the low voltage and the relay de-energizes. Then it has power to re-energize. Severely discharged batteries will take a while to charge up, or even jump start.

Oh yeah, and:
He robbed from the rich, and he gave to the poor /
Stood up to The Man and he gave him what for /
Our love for him now ain't hard to explain /
The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne

You should name your van Vera.

 

I've heard it takes up to 45 minutes to fully recharge the battery after starting it---probably not quite that much but frequent starts without enough charging time could certainly appear to be a bad battery or charging system.

Glad it was nothing more than this and thanks for the follow up------good info!

 

So I found on this forum that others had the same very strange issue I experienced today with my F350.
WHen to start it today and the dials and gauges all went crazy and started wild movements. Truck wouldn't start, the battery died out in about 1/3 of a minute.
The answer what that the battery terminals on both batteries was loaded with blue/green foam which was interfering with the electrical power required to start the truck. I cleaned off the battery terminals on both batteries until they were spotless. Reconnected both batteries, and bingo...the vehicle started and no more whacky gauge dances. Thanks for all the help you all.
The moral of the problem is: keep an eye out for the condition of your battery terminals and clean them regularly as needed.

 

Not a bad post for a one time poster.