I've been having a really really weird problem with an 87 Ranger these past few days. On tuesday, with a half-charged battery, the truck would turn over and start fine. On wednesday, the engine would barely turn 1/8 rotation before it stopped. The battery cables got obscenely hot. A few more days went by with this same behavior. On friday, i began to charge the main battery back up, as well as an extra larger battery i had lying around. On saturday when everything was all charged up, i connected the two batteries together in parallel, as if i was jump starting the truck, still the same behavior. I then changed out the positive battery cable, still same result, minus the battery wire getting hot as hell. I was thinking it was my jumper cables, so I charged the batteries back up, and on sunday, i used two pairs of fairly good jumper cables between the two batteries, I put the bigger one in the truck instead, hoping that would improve power having the bigger one in there directly tied in, and having the smaller one jumped. Still the same as before.

I figured the batteries were running low again, and began to charge them. After a bit of charging, I tried something different, I took the Positive cable that goes to the starter off the solenoid, then touched it directly to the other side of the solenoid, the one that goes to the battery. I noticed an increase in speed, and this time it completeled a whole revolution or so. The battery cables while still getting warm, were not getting quite as hot as before.

So far I've come up with either I have a bad ground or the the postive wire to the starter is bad. My starter is going bad, or I need to charge my batteries even more. Any ideas?

Oh yeah, its the 2.9 V6, and the plugs are removed, so its not compressing against anything

 

Bet its the ground!! Hook a jumper lead from the battery negative to the engine block and give it a try.

 

MY starter did pretty much the exact same thing. The bearings wore out in it. I just replaced the starter and have not had an issue since.

If you are comfortable with it, you can remove your starter and clean it from the inside-out and regrease all the bearings. It should turn over easier then.

 

I tried that to, I still left the battery connected to, more current seemed to be going through the battery ground rather the cable connected to the block.
How hard is it to reach the postive feed on the starter?

EDIT: How hard is to remove the starter, do I have to remove the transmission or anything, or can it just unbolt right form the back of the engine? I'm not entirely sure the starter bearings are bad, with a socket wrench, I can turn the crank rather easily, and I can hear the starter gear turning with it..

 

the starter is easy to drop disconnect the positive cable and unbolt it and disconnect the wires you shouldnt have to drop anything else to get to it.. you can always take the starter to an auto parts store to see if its bad they usually bench test for free

 

With my starter, I had to pull some houdini-multiple-bendy-socket-crap out of my butt to get around some stuff, but mine has been off 2x now and I know whats going on there. Just make sure to CATCH the starter... don't catch it with your face. That hurts.

 

Got the starter out, was almost impossible to turn the gear by hand. hooked it up to my two batteries, spun very slowly. Just took the end cap off it now, a bunch of shreaded leaves and dirt came out of it. Something some how made a nest in it... @_@

 

Clean it real good, and grease all the bearings. It should work when you put it back on then. It also might not be a bad idea to buy a rebuild kit for it too.

 

The bearings don't look like much, just cheap sleeve bearings, unless I'm missing something. I'll grease em anyways. Anyways, I clean it, and see if she works again. My dad told to check out some company that rebuilts alternators and starters, etc..

 

Got it back together, and tested it outside the truck, spun very slow, maybe 100-300 RPM, added a second battery jumped on, and it did not spin any faster, but did draw more power.

 

hmm. I'd take it to a NAPA or whatever you have around you and see if they can test it for you.

 

Well the starter is offically dead, one of the coils in the stator appears to be shorted to ground. I figure I'll just go to autozone and pickup some cheap starter that will at least get the truck running again. The choice I have is a "Premium Duralast remanufactured" starter for $80, or a Valuecraft Remanufactured for $64. The Durlast has a limited life time warrenty. Eh, I'll figure I'll get that one, just so if it dies, I can get it replaced.

 

Get the Reman with lifetime replacement. I did so almost 3 years ago now and have actually replaced it 5 times since. Of the first 2 they gave me one kept sticking to the flywheel and the other was DOA. Bad Remans, new company for next. The 3rd lasted me till a year ago when it outta nowhere died one day. The 4th had a bad rethread job on one hole. The 5th is in it still today. They've replaced them all without a question. I know that I'm the epitomy of Murphy's law sometimes on my truck. My 4th fuel pump relay is proof of it. But if it weren't for the $125 I spent on my Reman instead of the $98 for the stock replacement 30 day replacement I'd be out alot more money than just the $27 difference.

While down there clean any cable end you come across. Especially the one thats attached to the engine block.

 

Well I went ahead and got the duralast. It looked rather new, then remanufactured. Autozone said if i Bring in my old one, I get $20 back. Just cleaned up the postive cable a bit, and put it in, boy that was fun, kept scraping off rust accidently off some old brakeline and getting in my eyes, that sucks badly. Anyways put in, seemed to crank over much easier, starter sounded better cranking, and seemd to draw less current.

 

Thats good that you got it replaced.

Thats what I did with mine.

Another lesson I learned - always wear safety glasses, sunglasses, or just plain old glasses whenever working under a vehicle that is driven on a dirt road.