A 1991 Ford Explorer with a 6 cylinder engine wont start. I hear a clicking when trying to start it but nothing happens. Thanks for your assistance.

 

The clicking is probably your solenoid which is normal. It could be a couple of things... First check your battery. You should have about 14-16 volts showing when it's not under load, and it shouldn't drop below 12 or maybe 11.5 when you turn the key to start it. If it shows charged, but drops way below 12 volts under a load then it may have a dead cell. The second would be your starter. First check all connections, check your ground, check to make sure the connections at the solenoid are tight, and check the connection at the starter as well. If all checks out, clean your battery terminals and make sure they are tight, check you battery water level if it's not sealed (some you can check, some not) and try to jump it or charge the battery. If still a no go I would pull the battery and starter and take them to any major parts store chain, they will usually test those components for free. That starter isn't cheap either. I managed to find one somewhere online for like $75 and I wish I could remember where because that was about half what everyone else wanted, but that was 2 years ago... and I've slept since then. I was fortunate and have a manual trans so I just push started it for a week or so till the starter came in. Good luck.

Oh, and just in case it is the solenoid... which is the cheapest compenent to replace. If it is bad then you can jumper across both studs with a "RUBBER HANDLED SCREWDRIVER"... rubber handle, very important .... and the vehicle should start if your battery and starter are fine. This usually burns scorches the screw driver a bit and makes it pretty hard to get the nuts off the studs on the solenoid because the threads are then scorched/melted as well. I'm not saying I recomend doing this... but I have done it before... (I've also re-paired a lot of stuff with duct tape too )

 

Check the cable that runs from the solenoid on the fender down to the starter.... this is a common problem on Gen 1 Explorers. I had to have it repalced on my 92 cause it coroded internally... i.e. couldn't see any problem from the terminals... and was showing a 300 ohm reistenance. This is what was causing the no start problem. It isn't expensive... just a pain to do. Check it out and let us know what you find.

 

I'm bumping this thread up because my 91 Exp 5spd has a no start- no spin situation going on. I get one loud click.
Battery is at 12.73 volts and using a multimeter probe from the actual post on one side to the clamp and/or cable on the other shows same volts. So I'm assuming it's not bat connections but soemthing after that.

Reading here i see the pos cable from the seleniod to starter frequently goes bad.

Here's my question for now, What it the resistance supposed to be?
I take it from the post above 300 ohms is high? So what's normal?
Thanks in advance.

Oh one last thing, jumping the small terminal on the seleniod to the large terminal = one loud click

 

The resistance in the cables for the starter circuit needs to be nearly 0.

 

Thanks Mr Shorty.
Got another dumb question. Can i add leads to my tester to test the cable without pulling it? Or does that create another set of problems? Alligator clamps and wires?

To quote you:Because diagnosing a problem is a lot of the battle, can you tell us how you traced the problem to______? You are so right about that. I hate the shotgun approach of just replace and hope one gets lucky. I'm with that other guy who says: Test don't guess.

If i bopped the starter i could get a spin and start a time to two.

I did pull the starter last night. left the wires connected. Ground the starter to frame w/jumper cables. Had the Gf turn the key to start. discovered light taps on the solenoid would result in a go-spin. So I'm thinking bad solenoid.

 

Be sure to check the connections at the starter. My starter did the same thing to me this weekend. I cleaned/tightened the connectors (The push on connector was a little loose), and it appears to have fixed the problem. It will take a few days to verify that it will now start everytime, but that's where I would start.

 

thanks again sir,
I saw that push on connection. It felt tight and looked decently clean.
wiggling it in the no spin mode didn't change anything. the reason i pulled was to get a good look at the connections there. Took the nuts off for a look see and they were clean underneath.