Any mechanically inclined car people here?

Everything else
1

I have a 2001 Ford Explorer my Dad gave me last year when they got a new car. It had a lot of problems but it was OK because we needed a second vehicle for when I have doctors appointments and my wife has our primary car in use. In late fall the battery kept dying so I replaced that. Come to find out it was bulging. Then over Christmas it wouldn’t start. It has plenty of battery and goes rurururururururururururururururururururur but never actually completes it’s start. It just keeps revving.

I really can’t afford to have this towed and worked on so want to see if it’s something I can diagnose with the Internet’s help and maybe it is something I can actually do myself. I started the first steps to make sure it isn’t some fuse affecting the startup, but I can’t seem to find a proper fuse diagram that matches mine on the Internet. Would prefer to not have to pull 50 individual fuses. Any advice or help would be great. Thanks.

2

Have you had the alternator checked? There are places that will test it for free.

3

No I haven’t had it checked. So maybe I can take that out and take it to NAPA auto? However I really don’t think it’s the alternator though. My top ideas based on Internet searches are:

  • bad spark plug
  • fuel supply issue (fuel injector or fuel pump)
  • bad starter

I might go through the steps listed at the bottom of this page if I can get my energy up.
http://www.autotap.com/problem5_engine_cranks.asp I also don’t understand why not a single one of these diagrams matches the fuse box in my Explorer. Are the real diagrams top secret or something?

4

I am pretty much mechanically illiterate but I know with a battery I am usually told to check the alternator. The fact your battery bulged out could clue in an expert. I have found people at Napa’s or other auto parts stores usually very happy to talk to you about possible problems. Maybe stop by one and talk to them.

5

OK thanks! :)

6

Battery issues usually do belie an underlying alternator issue. Sometimes a battery swap will help it out for a little bit, but a bad alternator will wear down the replacement battery sooner than normal and you’ll be back to where you started.

Batteries also have less starting power in the cold, which is why starting issues will tend to crop up in the fall/winter.

7

Also, have you tried jump starting it?

If so, and it jump starts and then runs fine, it’s not likely that it’s fuel supply or spark plugs. If it seems to bog down a little while idling, then it is possible that fuel supply or spark plugs could be an issue (or contributing to the issue).

My first instincts are alternator and/or starter.

8

I don’t think you can bring an alternator in to get tested, can you? I’d bring the battery to see if it’s already drained from another issue like the alternator. Then ask the guys.

9

Sort of. You can’t bring in the alternator by itself, but if you can get your car started, places like autozone will test your alternator (or battery, or starter) for free.

https://www.autozone.com/landing/page.jsp?name=in-our-stores

Of course, they want to sell you the part for you to fix yourself.

10

Yeah that’s what I was getting at. Sounds like the car doesn’t run, unless they can jump it like you suggested.

11

Huh, literally on the page I linked they had this blurb:

You can also take your alternator, starter or battery into our store and we’ll test it.

So… maybe? Depending on what’s available nearby. My mechanic friends have always told me that it’s pretty straightforward to take off an alternator on most cars, but I’ve never done it myself.

12

jpinard I am not a mechanic, but more of a shade tree type when it comes to working on things. You have three basic paths to follow regarding a car not running: spark, fuel, compression. A ton of issues with the first two usually happen early in a vehicles age, prior to the final item, usually later in the timeline.

You described the following:
“Then over Christmas it wouldn’t start. It has plenty of battery and goes rurururururururururururururururururururur but never actually completes it’s start. It just keeps revving.”

You’re cranking, and that rururururur, is the engine attempting to turn over. So, while it could be two of those items (spark or compression), it sure sounds like it’s the third, the fuel. Since you had battery issues, it could be something electrical, like getting spark to the engine to fire, but I would wager the fuel.

Things that affect fuel getting to the engine are the fuel itself (none there, old fuel, water in the tank, etc,) the fuel pump, the fuel pump relay, the fuel inertia switch, the list goes on. Your best bet would be to find the best friend you have that is decent with cars to help troubleshoot if you think it’s fuel.

If it is the spark not getting there, a common failure is the starter, which is quite hard to remove to carry yourself to some place for testing. A common attempt at a workaround is to take a hammer and lightly bang on the starter a few times. You’re attempting to move the rotor inside just a bit for contact, and sometimes that will be just enough you can then start the car. If so, drive directly to a mechanic for replacement. In my humble experience, the symptoms of that are -completely- different than what you posted. You get radio, lights, everything, just no turn-over or rururururururu.

13

Step 1, just in case) Bad alternator leads to battery running out of juice. Jump/charge the battery with a charger and try again. But since you’re getting the engine to turn and didn’t mention not having power, it’s probably not the battery. Also, you just replaced that. Still, this is the easiest thing to try so try it posthaste.

Step 2) Engine is trying to turn over but isn’t. Could be the starter. It usually is. If it sounds really good, like a normal start, and the engine won’t “take over” then the starter is good and the engine is doing something fucky. Since you say it’s a rurururu, I’m assuming that’s not a normal start. Replacing a starter isn’t terribly difficult, actually, but you do need to know what to do. Try the tap with long piece of wood/hammer trick. You have to hit sort of hard, but not like shake the whole car hard. More than when you’re tapping cheese out of a grater but less than nailing a nail into wood. Somewhere around a good, solid knocking on a hard wood door to let people know you’re at their house, but not if you are an ex-girlfriend or drug dealer at 3 in the morning making a scene. Start softer than that anyways, while someone is trying to crank it.

Step 3) Take it to a mechanic. If you know it’s not the battery and not the starter, then it could be a million other things. If you have a check engine light you could buy a OBD2 scanner and read the codes off and search google for them with your car model and see if anyone knows anything. Without the codes you’re S.O.L.

14

Thanks for all the advice. Have a lot to go on and will try to jump start (I’ll need to.buy longer jump cables), then do the hammer on starter trick, then go from there.

15

If you’re buying super long ones and they cost a lot maybe you could spend that on something like this instead which may be more useful in the long run:
STANLEY FATMAX J7CS Jump Starter: 700 Peak/350 Instant Amps, 120 PSI Air Compressor
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RZXVQSU/

They also have little battery packs like those cell phone batteries that will start your car for like $35

16

One of the auto parts places (Napa or Autozone maybe) will let you “borrow” tools with a deposit. Maybe they have extra long jumper cables for loan.

17

I agree it sounds like you also have a weak alternator that’s slowly killing your battery. But, engine turning over and not starting with a freshly charged battery: spark plugs, wire harness, fuel pump, bad gas, engine screwed.

Pull the plugs to inspect. Check the wires for wear. Sometimes pulling the plugs and wires and re-seating them is enough to start. If so, replace. Google fuel pump and your car model, it’s typically under the back seat. Open it up and have your wife listen while you start it. Try hitting it with a hammer or playing with the wires. Do NOT listen to your neighbor who says “try running a blowtorch over the wire connectors”… boom!. Replacing it is not too tough, not too easy either. Bad gas is unlikely unless it’s a year old? Could try a stabilizer. If you get it start, give it the italian tune-up (rev the hell out of it for a few full minutes). It will either break again, or help fix the issue.

If it’s the engine, I’d recommend you stop and instead buy a used 2006 or so Toyota Corolla for around $1500. It will start every time and give you up to 200,000 miles trouble free.

18

I’m here to tell you all that gasoline does not go bad until the beginning of the third year.

My girlfriend was keeping a car over here, and it was my job to go out there once a month and start the damn thing. Which I did, and it started first try every time. On about the 26th month, it still had fuel, but would not start. Finally sold the thing because it would not run. Talked to the guy later, and he said that after hearing my story and symptoms, he simply (or not so simply) drained the tank and put new fuel in. Started right up. And to thing we sold it to him for half of book value because we figured the engine was ruined. Or some expensive part of the engine.

19

Anyone have one of these? I’m thinking of getting one after needing to jump start my car a couple times this week. Many reviews on Amazon complain that it stops holding a charge within a year.

20

Perhaps get your battery checked?