I had a strange no start this morning……..I have been driving my other car for a few days so I had to transfer my work junk from one vehicle to the other, when I unlocked the doors of the Ex with the key fob I noticed that the dome lights were flashing and there was a constant clicking under the dash, like an emergency flasher relay would make. I did not think much of it and transferred the rest of my junk. When I went to fire her up, no WTS light, the dash lights seemed dim, maybe not all of them on and the “theft” light was flashing, moved the key to start and nothing, no crank, nothing. Figured it was something with the anit-theft so I fiddled around with the key fob a little bit, it acted weird but I was able to make the key fob work. Tried again and I got a WTS light, hit the starter when the WTS went out, she cranked but made no indication that it would fire. I tried a couple more WTS/starter cycles and the batteries started getting a little weak on me. Gave up and took the other car.<o>
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<o></o>On my way to work I called the wife and told her the Ex was dead. She said it acted funny yesterday, she shut it off in the Starbucks drive through and when she restarted it the “theft” light flashed for quite some time. I don’t think she shut it off until she was home. She did not do anything out of the ordinary after the drive-thru incident, she did fuel it, I will assume she left it running while fueling as we usually do. <o></o>

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<o></o>I need some help with this, this is the only vehicle we have that my family can use, my other car is a Miata, two car seats do not fit too well Any ideas? Oh, I put a battery charger on it before I headed for work, which battery should I be charging to or do they both charge from one?<o></o>

 

No idea what is up with the strange smileys and the double post....sorry but still need help with the Ex.

 

Check battery voltage and connections. Many anti theft devices that I have played with go funky with a loose or bad connection. Also explains the dim lights..

Good luck

 

2nd on weak or bad batteries.

Smiley faces are from creating your post with MS Word and pasting it into FTE. There are a lot of embedded characters in a word processing document that the forum can't process.

 

Bob, your the whip..

we really have to work on your greenies though..

 

That would explain the smileys. I'm doing this from work and wanted to spend a minimal amount of time online so I composed the post ahead of time.....now I know better

Thanks for the input on the batteries and connections, I will check it out when I get home. Which battery should I be charging to?

Anything else that would cause this starting weirdness?

 

At this point in time, I doubt it.
Get your battery issue resolved and it will be back to normal.

 

The batteries are in parallel so it does not matter which one you charge from.

The reason low battery voltage will keep the truck from starting is the IDM requires a minimum of 10.5 Volts to fire the injectors. No injectors, no fuel, no fire. I bet you had no white smoke while you were cranking either, a sign of no fuel.

I would stick with starting with the batteries. If she starts when you get home after charging all day, have the batteries load tested independently and replace both even if only one shows as being weak.

 

Thanks for the responses......much appreciated!

Assuming I need to replace batteries, what should I go with? I currently have Autozone Gold series batteries, I think they are about 5 years old, the PO installed them.

 

I know this is open to opinion, I run Interstate, my theroy behind it was that no matter where I go, I should be able to pick up a battery (they dont always stock my battery, learned that the hardway). So, I would recomend AutoZone, Sears or something from NAPA. This way you should be able to get a warranty replacement battery no matter where you are at.

 

Okay, got home form work, batteries fully charged, at least as indicated by my charger, hit the key, WTS comes on, everything seems happy, cranks, no fire, no start. Based on the cranking speed and how long I cranked on it and everything else working I think the batteries are okay? Where do I look now?

 

Have someone check the voltage on each battery with a voltmeter between chasis ground and the + terminal while you crank. It must supply a minimum of 10.5v to the IDM to fire the injectors. The batteries could show a 'full charge' but not hold up to the amp draw of the starter motor. That is why it is necessary to load test a battery to determine the condition.

Another indicator of low voltage would be not having any white smoke from the pipe as you are cranking .... No white smoke, no start = no fuel in cylinders.

 

x2, very good advice Bob.

 

I will give that a go when I get home. By the way, no smoke, it does not act like it is getting any fuel.

 

If that is the case then put your keys in the ignition, turn to the on position and listen under the truck, see if you can hear the pump pumping. If it is pumping then is there a way you can check your fuel pressure? Do you or know someone that has the gauges for it?