Frankly, I don't really know what to call this problem. I guess the easiest thing is to describe what happens and see if anyone knows what the problem is:
Get into the truck, put the key in the ignition, and turn the key to Start position. I get 1 click of something and the system is frozen in place. When I say system, I mean just that. It's as if the truck is still trying to crank and nothing is happening. The dashboard is blank, if the door were still open, the interior light is out, headlights will not burn. It's as if the battery has disappeared.
The first time this happened, after a lot of trial and error, we eventually decided to replace the ignition switch (not the tumbler, the part under the steering column and the dash board). We quickly discovered that disconnecting the battery's negative cable and reconnecting it reset the system (used multimeter to confirm voltage at the battery), and the lights came back on, until I tried to crank it again and then it died off. Worked fine after we replaced the ignition switch.
Until it did it again. Same exact symptoms. Went to crank truck and it acted like the battery had disappeared. Decided to replace the ignition switch immediately, and it worked fine.
Until it did it again. Once again, the same symptoms. Figured, maybe the truck has a bad ground connection somewhere. Loosened and retightened all of the ground screws throughout the engine compartment. Replaced the ignition switch and it worked fine. No problems with crank.
Until it did it again. Exactly the same symptoms. Replaced the ignition switch (I now carry a spare with me), and drove it to the shop where my son works. We looked at everything trying to determine the problem. Took the old ignition switch and prized it open only to discover that it's just a bunch of copper connections with Dielectric grease inside. Found a few of the copper connecters with some burn marks on them, but this is just a switch and contains nothing like a diode or relay or anything to make you think a part could fail. The ignition switch merely connects electrical wires together (i.e.; 3 connected to 2 or 3 or whatever) depending on where the cylinder has been turned to (and a return spring to push the switch back to "run" position). We eventually replaced the ignition coil as it appeared to be the factory coil (truck has 207,000 miles on it). Everything seemed fine with the truck....
Until it happened again. This time, even though I have a spare, I decided to just disconnect the negative terminal, and pretend to crank the truck about 30 times (hoping to clean any burn marks off the copper connections by scrapping them together over and over). Reconnected the negative terminal and it cranked. It's been running fine now for 4 days, but it's driving us NUTS trying to figure out what the gremlin is.
With that as a description, anybody got any ideas?
99 Ford Ranger, 3.0 Liter V6 (Flex Fuel); 207,000 miles on it. Only owner of the truck (I don't trade vehicles very often).
Thanks,
Joe
Get into the truck, put the key in the ignition, and turn the key to Start position. I get 1 click of something and the system is frozen in place. When I say system, I mean just that. It's as if the truck is still trying to crank and nothing is happening. The dashboard is blank, if the door were still open, the interior light is out, headlights will not burn. It's as if the battery has disappeared.
The first time this happened, after a lot of trial and error, we eventually decided to replace the ignition switch (not the tumbler, the part under the steering column and the dash board). We quickly discovered that disconnecting the battery's negative cable and reconnecting it reset the system (used multimeter to confirm voltage at the battery), and the lights came back on, until I tried to crank it again and then it died off. Worked fine after we replaced the ignition switch.
Until it did it again. Same exact symptoms. Went to crank truck and it acted like the battery had disappeared. Decided to replace the ignition switch immediately, and it worked fine.
Until it did it again. Once again, the same symptoms. Figured, maybe the truck has a bad ground connection somewhere. Loosened and retightened all of the ground screws throughout the engine compartment. Replaced the ignition switch and it worked fine. No problems with crank.
Until it did it again. Exactly the same symptoms. Replaced the ignition switch (I now carry a spare with me), and drove it to the shop where my son works. We looked at everything trying to determine the problem. Took the old ignition switch and prized it open only to discover that it's just a bunch of copper connections with Dielectric grease inside. Found a few of the copper connecters with some burn marks on them, but this is just a switch and contains nothing like a diode or relay or anything to make you think a part could fail. The ignition switch merely connects electrical wires together (i.e.; 3 connected to 2 or 3 or whatever) depending on where the cylinder has been turned to (and a return spring to push the switch back to "run" position). We eventually replaced the ignition coil as it appeared to be the factory coil (truck has 207,000 miles on it). Everything seemed fine with the truck....
Until it happened again. This time, even though I have a spare, I decided to just disconnect the negative terminal, and pretend to crank the truck about 30 times (hoping to clean any burn marks off the copper connections by scrapping them together over and over). Reconnected the negative terminal and it cranked. It's been running fine now for 4 days, but it's driving us NUTS trying to figure out what the gremlin is.
With that as a description, anybody got any ideas?
99 Ford Ranger, 3.0 Liter V6 (Flex Fuel); 207,000 miles on it. Only owner of the truck (I don't trade vehicles very often).
Thanks,
Joe