PLEASE forgive me and use small words. I'm a single mom of four who has learned to work on vehicles because often my options are to figure it out myself or go without a car since I can rarely afford mechanics. The result...I've pulled trannys and done a lot of major repairs but often have no clue what "that one thingie" is actually called.

I've got a 93 Explorer that has had battery problems in the past. I had trouble with the connections and often would have to get out and wiggle wires to connect them better to get it to start. I'd pound and wiggle and eventually get a better connection and it would start. This past time it wasn't happening. I had replaced my neg cable a year ago and thought maybe it was a good idea to replace the pos one now.

When I pulled the wires from the starter relay, everything came off all at once and I wasn't really able to see which place everything was connected to. To add o the confusion, the old cable had a big black rubber end and the new one just had two red wires, one slightly bigger than the other.

I did my best to figure it out and ended up having to jump it since it wasn't starting. When I hooked up the cables, I got more spark at the terminals than I'd like to see. I then noticed smoke inside the truck. I tore apart my door and discovered it came from the power mirror switch which was now melted. Hopped online and discovered there was a recall for them because they were prone to shorting out and catching on fire. I disconnected the switch and tried again. Was able to jump the truck and it ran well but didn't restart. I figured the battery needed to charge more and I let it run for almost two hours. Turned it off and tried to restart. It just clicked once and the time on the clock returned to 12:00.

The battery is about a year old. I know NOTHING about electrical stuff. I can't see how it works and to be honest, sparks scare me. As close as I can figure, there is either a short in my electrical system that is draining my battery or my battery isn't charging. Could it be my alternator's charge isn't getting through to my battery? I'm still nervous about how the connections at the starter relay are on there.

My positive battery cable seems to be connected to my starter fine. The two other wires that run off of it are connected to my starter relay. Also, on those same two bolts on my relay are a black wire that runs to my fuses, and another that goes to my alternator.

Does anyone have any idea? My manual was useless and the removal for the starter relay just said to note and mark which place the wires came from so you don't mix them up. No good pictures. I'm lost!

 

The solenoid/relay on the fender well is an easy one. There should be 3 terminals, 2 big ones and 1 small one. On 1 of the 2 big terminals you should connect your cable from the + side of the battery and all of the small wires except for 1. That 1 small wire will connect to the small terminal and should have a push on connector that pushes on to the small terminal if it is still original. The cable to the starter will connect to the 2nd big terminal. The wire that connects to the small terminal comes from the ignition switch through the neutral switch and clutch switch. When power is supplied to the small terminal an electromagnetic coil energizes and pulls a plunger down inside the solenoid that has contacts that connect the 2 large terminals and is capable of carrying the high amp load needed to supply power to the starter.

You can find a wiring diagram from the autozone site here http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/g...3d800ba9ce.gif. It shows that the wire from the ignition switch that connects to the small terminal should be red & light blue.

 

Should have read all of the post before I started writing. There is also a grey wire that goes through a fusible link and then becomes a black/orange wire that goes to the alternator. This is the wire that charges the battery, and it should be on the same large terminal as the + cable to the battery. If it is charging correctly, there should be around 14 to 16 volts between the + and - terminals on the battery when the car is running. Less than 13½ volts will not charge the battery properly. More than 16 volts will toast the battery over a little time. There should also be a black wire on that large terminal that supplies power to the big power distribution block under the hood.

If this doesn't solve your issue, let me know and we'll try to diagnose it further.