Anybody good with cars...

[trigger2]

Well, our '01 Ford Taurus just threw a tissy fit, here's the story...

My '95 Mercury Villager's battery died. Great, mom just left... Give her a call, "mom, need a jump." So she comes back (thank god) and we set up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/engine block), and try and jump, nope, she doesn't take the jump, she just won't roll over. So later that night, go out, get a new battery, and crapola, same voltage but it's about an inch to short! The battery mount won't hold her! Okay, okay, so I try and jump her one last time, again, no joy. So, I take out the dead battery, hook the new one up, and put the old one on the ground, hooked up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/-) and tried to charge the dead one. It worked, been running it, so I go to pull our Taurus back into the garage, and CRAP! She won't start! All I got was a weird clicking noise, sounded like the starter was tryin, but the battery wasn't giving her anything... But she still had full power! Open the door, all the lighting clicked on. Hook her up to the battery charger, says she's full, try and start her one last time, woah, did I see that right? At 1 click forward (engaging electrical), I got these lights on...
Battery warning
Brake warning
Check engine
and oil.
o.O that can't be right. So I dink around with the battery, and try and give the Taurus the jump this time, to no avail, just made the clicks more rapid. So after a little bit of thinking (about an hours worth of frustration), I decide okay, I'll just disconnect the power and see what that does. So I disconnect the battery for about five minutes. After reconnecting the battery, try and start her up, and she fired up just fine.

What the heck was wrong with her?

For the record, the new battery fit her perfectly so I swapped them out because of acid build up on the old... Soda water FTW.

[5PointOh]

Well, our '01 Ford Taurus just threw a tissy fit, here's the story...

My '95 Mercury Villager's battery died. Great, mom just left... Give her a call, "mom, need a jump." So she comes back (thank god) and we set up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/engine block), and try and jump, nope, she doesn't take the jump, she just won't roll over. So later that night, go out, get a new battery, and crapola, same voltage but it's about an inch to short! The battery mount won't hold her! Okay, okay, so I try and jump her one last time, again, no joy. So, I take out the dead battery, hook the new one up, and put the old one on the ground, hooked up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/-) and tried to charge the dead one. It worked, been running it, so I go to pull our Taurus back into the garage, and CRAP! She won't start! All I got was a weird clicking noise, sounded like the starter was tryin, but the battery wasn't giving her anything... But she still had full power! Open the door, all the lighting clicked on. Hook her up to the battery charger, says she's full, try and start her one last time, woah, did I see that right? At 1 click forward (engaging electrical), I got these lights on...Ok with the key one click forward on most cars a "warning light check" will occur. This is normal.
Battery warning
Brake warning
Check engine
and oil.
o.O that can't be right. So I dink around with the battery, and try and give the Taurus the jump this time, to no avail, just made the clicks more rapid. So after a little bit of thinking (about an hours worth of frustration), I decide okay, I'll just disconnect the power and see what that does. So I disconnect the battery for about five minutes. After reconnecting the battery, try and start her up, and she fired up just fine.

What the heck was wrong with her?

For the record, the new battery fit her perfectly so I swapped them out because of acid build up on the old... Soda water FTW.

So the new battery works sometimes. With out actually being there, lets start with the the battery cables, and any connections from the cables.   Make sure that the end of the cables that connect to the battery are clean and free of corrosion.  Next follow the ground wire (- or black wire) to the grounding  point. While your following the ground wire, check for exposed strains of wire, burnt wire, and corrosion at the point where the cable is attached to the body of the car.  Next do the same to the positive, except this time it will go to the starter solenoid,  If its a 3.0L Villager shouldnt be to hard to see. If your talking about a Tauras  and it a 3.0L also about the same. If its a Tauras SHO with the 3.2L Yammaha V8 the starter is burried and I hope you have small arms. But start with the cables and connections and we'll go from there.

[phatzo]

used to have an old morris 1500 that done that. It was a sticky solenoid that occaisionally required a little violence with a small hammer or large spanner to free it up.

[dBeav]

Battery cable connection problem.

[Shuffler]

Lights coming on is a bad indicator of how much charge a battery has. Lights do not pull much at all.

The old battery probably has a dead cell. When that happens you won't be able to start the vehicle with just a jump.

If the vehicle starts only sometimes with the new battery in it then you need to do a few things.

#1. Clean the cable connectors very good with a wire brush and confirm the cables are not frayed at the cable clamps. (this fixes the problem most of the time)

#2 Check the ground cable to the engine block. (be sure it is connected tightly)

#3 Check the hot cable to the solenoid to be sure it is not lose.



If all those check out ok then the solenoid on the starter may be faulty. The clicking you heard before is actually the solenoid. It'll do that when it is not getting enough power. The solenoids job is to engage the bendix with the flywheel prior to it also energizing the starter motor.

I'm betting the cables are just dirty.

[CAP1]

Well, our '01 Ford Taurus just threw a tissy fit, here's the story...

My '95 Mercury Villager's battery died. Great, mom just left... Give her a call, "mom, need a jump." So she comes back (thank god) and we set up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/engine block), and try and jump, nope, she doesn't take the jump, she just won't roll over. So later that night, go out, get a new battery, and crapola, same voltage but it's about an inch to short! The battery mount won't hold her! Okay, okay, so I try and jump her one last time, again, no joy. So, I take out the dead battery, hook the new one up, and put the old one on the ground, hooked up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/-) and tried to charge the dead one. It worked, been running it, so I go to pull our Taurus back into the garage, and CRAP! She won't start! All I got was a weird clicking noise, sounded like the starter was tryin, but the battery wasn't giving her anything... But she still had full power! Open the door, all the lighting clicked on. Hook her up to the battery charger, says she's full, try and start her one last time, woah, did I see that right? At 1 click forward (engaging electrical), I got these lights on...
Battery warning
Brake warning
Check engine
and oil.
o.O that can't be right. So I dink around with the battery, and try and give the Taurus the jump this time, to no avail, just made the clicks more rapid. So after a little bit of thinking (about an hours worth of frustration), I decide okay, I'll just disconnect the power and see what that does. So I disconnect the battery for about five minutes. After reconnecting the battery, try and start her up, and she fired up just fine.

What the heck was wrong with her?

For the record, the new battery fit her perfectly so I swapped them out because of acid build up on the old... Soda water FTW.

it's possible the old battery had a shorted cell. 9 out of 10 times, they'll never take a jump.

if you installed a new battery, and still got a no-start, then you need to check for voltage drops. check all of your connections, both positive, and ground.

 as for the taurus.....if you were letting it idle, while it was charging the battery, you drained the one in the taurus. the alternator will put out very very low amperage at idle. usually just enough to run the engine and a couple of accessories. most taurus's have alternators rated at 105 amps. this is at 2,000 rpm though. at idle, you'll never generate that amperage.

 lights don't draw too much, so they're a very poor indicator of your state of charge. if you light every light on your car, you might draw 30 amps from the battery.
 
 your starter draws around 250-300 amps.

 the biggest thing with anything electrical though(5.0 nailed the basics) is keeping all connections clean. small amounts of corrosion will play havoc with your electrical system. i've seen more ground side problems in the last few years than i can count.

 hope this helps. is it still acting funny?

[trigger2]

hope this helps. is it still acting funny?

No, with the new battery in her, she fires up every time.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

[CAP1]

No, with the new battery in her, she fires up every time.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

cool.

one more thing to remember. fords sometimes don't run quite right after the battery has been disconnected. it could take up to about 10 miles of driving to let the computer "re-learn".

[Babalonian]

Sounds like just a computer problem on the Taurus, which was common on the one my Ex used to have and I took care of.  Its computer had two issues, the main one was that the radiator fan wouldn't shut down, even after removing the key form the ignition.  Required you to unplug the battery or just unplug the fuse for it and then re-plug it back in.  The radiator fan issue was random and sporatic, and the !@#$ing dealership could/would never come up with the source of the problem to it and a solution.  The other being its starting problem similar to yours.  Involved unplugging the battery for 10-15 minutes so the computer would reset, and walla, car worked fine.  Sometime idled rough until you ran it for a bit, as someone pointed out, the computer takes a little time/milage to catch up to speed with the rest of the car's more solid mechanical parts. =P

[CAP1]

Sounds like just a computer problem on the Taurus, which was common on the one my Ex used to have and I took care of.  Its computer had two issues, the main one was that the radiator fan wouldn't shut down, even after removing the key form the ignition.  Required you to unplug the battery or just unplug the fuse for it and then re-plug it back in.  The radiator fan issue was random and sporatic, and the !@#$ing dealership could/would never come up with the source of the problem to it and a solution.  The other being its starting problem similar to yours.  Involved unplugging the battery for 10-15 minutes so the computer would reset, and walla, car worked fine.  Sometime idled rough until you ran it for a bit, as someone pointed out, the computer takes a little time/milage to catch up to speed with the rest of the car's more solid mechanical parts. =P

your fan problem was the "integrated circuit control relay module".

that's the little black box mounted right on top of the radiator. they all to bad. 

[CAP1]

Sounds like just a computer problem on the Taurus, which was common on the one my Ex used to have and I took care of.  Its computer had two issues, the main one was that the radiator fan wouldn't shut down, even after removing the key form the ignition.  Required you to unplug the battery or just unplug the fuse for it and then re-plug it back in.  The radiator fan issue was random and sporatic, and the !@#$ing dealership could/would never come up with the source of the problem to it and a solution.  The other being its starting problem similar to yours.  Involved unplugging the battery for 10-15 minutes so the computer would reset, and walla, car worked fine.  Sometime idled rough until you ran it for a bit, as someone pointed out, the computer takes a little time/milage to catch up to speed with the rest of the car's more solid mechanical parts. =P

i almost forgot..your starting problem........was very very simple too.

 there was corrosion forming between the battery cable end, and the battery post.

 by removing the cable, you were in essence, "scrubbing" the corrosion off of them, and when you re-connected them, you now had a good connection...till the corrosion formed again.


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<  is very very good at diagnosing electrical and electronic problems. 

[BigPlay]

Well, our '01 Ford Taurus just threw a tissy fit, here's the story...

My '95 Mercury Villager's battery died. Great, mom just left... Give her a call, "mom, need a jump." So she comes back (thank god) and we set up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/engine block), and try and jump, nope, she doesn't take the jump, she just won't roll over. So later that night, go out, get a new battery, and crapola, same voltage but it's about an inch to short! The battery mount won't hold her! Okay, okay, so I try and jump her one last time, again, no joy. So, I take out the dead battery, hook the new one up, and put the old one on the ground, hooked up the jumper cables (+/+ : -/-) and tried to charge the dead one. It worked, been running it, so I go to pull our Taurus back into the garage, and CRAP! She won't start! All I got was a weird clicking noise, sounded like the starter was tryin, but the battery wasn't giving her anything... But she still had full power! Open the door, all the lighting clicked on. Hook her up to the battery charger, says she's full, try and start her one last time, woah, did I see that right? At 1 click forward (engaging electrical), I got these lights on...
Battery warning
Brake warning
Check engine
and oil.
o.O that can't be right. So I dink around with the battery, and try and give the Taurus the jump this time, to no avail, just made the clicks more rapid. So after a little bit of thinking (about an hours worth of frustration), I decide okay, I'll just disconnect the power and see what that does. So I disconnect the battery for about five minutes. After reconnecting the battery, try and start her up, and she fired up just fine.

What the heck was wrong with her?

For the record, the new battery fit her perfectly so I swapped them out because of acid build up on the old... Soda water FTW.

 I was going to recommend Cap since he owns one but he must spend hours scanning the boards because he beat me to it.

[CAP1]

 I was going to recommend Cap since he owns one but he must spend hours scanning the boards because he beat me to it.

and due to my knowledge, i seem to have gained a new anklehumper. orrrrr.......bigplay is another of lazydogs shades.......


sheesh dude.......give it a rest, could ya/?

i try to offer help to someone, and you're gonna try n bring this thread down too?

[BigPlay]

and due to my knowledge, i seem to have gained a new anklehumper. orrrrr.......bigplay is another of lazydogs shades.......


sheesh dude.......give it a rest, could ya/?

i try to offer help to someone, and you're gonna try n bring this thread down too?

 

[betty]

when i seen u said a bunch of lights came on in ur dash i though alternator. that happened in my grand prix....but if all the lights are out and u got it started, it was prolly just a bad connection on ur battery.