New here,

2000 Excursion / 5.4 ltr / stock / 105,000 miles / Austin TX (Wifes Ride)

And I searched until my eye's bleed.

I have an intermittant starting issue with my Excursion, or I should say my wife has the issue. Occasionally when she goes to start the excursion, she will just here a click under the hood, but the engine will not turn over. I suspect either the starter relay in the power distribution block (fuse block) or the starter solenoid (mounted in engine bay, above fender well, near batter) is the issue. Unfortunately this never happens when I drive it, so troubleshooting a working vehicle is tough. Both are fairly cheap and easy to replace, but I would like to clean connections on bot before swapping, twenty bucks is twenty bucks, if you know what I mean.

I am trying to locate the starter relay in the PDB, I guess I could unplug the wire that engages the solenoid, and determine which relay is clicking when turning the key to the start position in order to identify it, but......


We do not have the owners manual that identifies the various fuses and relays in the power distribution block. I was hoping one of you guys might be able to post a pic of one or provide a link to one so I can identify the correct starter relay.

Thanks, David

 

If you have not already checked them you may want to clean and tighten the battery terminals. I have had that problem in the past.

 

Does sound like a bad connection at battery or a ground and the fact that you hear starter solenoid is a good indication it's not the relay.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have cleaned the battery connections multiple times, swapped the battery with a new one, and had it checked. I don't know that my wife is hearing the solenoid, she may be hearing the relay.

Does the starter relay need a path to ground through a Nuetral Safety Switch or some similar safety device?

 

Maybe it's a dead spot in the starter motor itself, and being that it's intermittent does make finding the problem harder, has the starter been replace?? If not maybe you may want to remove and have tested at an auto parts store.

 

I'll look into it this weekend and let you guys know what I find, if anything.

Does anyone have a fuse block diagram they can post? Like mentioned earlier, we can find our owners manual.

 

Ford is nice enough to allow you to download a complete PDF version of your owners manual here

give your wife a big Hammer and teach her how to crawl under truck and give the starter/ bellhousing a few whacks with the hammer. then you will know its the starter pawl sticking on the ring gear. Just had that happen to me for the first time since I got my X.. I forgot to wait for the glow plug light and turned the key on and off quick which caused the starter motor gear to hang on the ring gear. a few taps with the hammer and i was good to go

 

It's always good to carry a good persuader with you

 

Havn't posted in a while. The problem ended being the starter or the starter solenoid. On a side note, the 2000 Excursion 5.4, has two solenoids, one on the starter and one on the fender well near the battery. When the Solenoid on the Fender wall near the battery engages, all it does is engage the starter mounted solenoid. This is dumb, why would Ford to this? They have a large 2-gauge battery cable on one terminal from the battery on one side of the fender mounted solenoid and a 10-guage wire on the other side, which goes straight to the S terminal on the starter mounted solenoid. Why? They could have just taken the wire that engages the fender mounted solenoid straight to the S terminal on the Starter mounted solenoid and been done with it. Sounds like a redundant system thats redundant.