We just returned from a 10 day trip 600 miles from home. We had one problem, and I have never had this happen before. Occasionally when I turn the key to start the engine I will hear the starter solenoid click but then nothing happens, so I use the aux. start switch to start it. Then other times it will click on the first attempt and then turn over nice and strong, as normal, on the second attempt. Once when this happened I used the aux. start switch and it acted the same way, using the house batteries. I have not had a chance to check it yet, but I suspect that the cable terminal on the starter might be corroded or dirty. Has anyone else had this problem with a 2001 F53 V10?This has happened both when starting the engine after stopping briefly at a rest area, and when starting it cold after having been parked for several days, plugged into shore power. The chassis battery is a year old. My scan gauge shows between 13.6 and 14.4 volts while driving. The house batteries are several years old, but have plenty of power to operate the slides, start the gen. power the lights nice and bright and start the engine. Any thoughts from anyone?Thanks,Roland

Sounds like your starter solenoid is falling or a bad cell in your batetry.

but I suspect that the cable terminal on the starter might be corroded or dirtyAnd I suspect your right.

Also check your chassis battery voltage with the engine off, should be 12.7 volts for a fully charged battery. Any thing less and you need to charge the battery or have it load tested. And you might want to clean the battery terminals on the chassis battery

My money is on a bad cable or ground...most likely on the starter batteries. Remove the cables, one at a time, clean em, lube em and reinstall. Let us know if that fixes the problem....Dennis

Executive wrote:My money is on a bad cable or ground...most likely on the starter batteries. Remove the cables, one at a time, clean em, lube em and reinstall. Let us know if that fixes the problem....DennisX2. Also be sure to check the connection on the starter too. Mine was bad once and you could see the connection was black from heat and resistance.

Intermittent electrical problem when starting

Grillmeister
Explorer
Jun 16, 2013
Great! Nice easy fix, Thanks for posting the results. Have a great weekend!
Ro646a
Explorer
Jun 15, 2013
Problem Solved:

I checked all the connections. It turned out to be a loose connection where the positive cable attaches to the starter solenoid. I took it apart and cleaned and tightened all the connections. That fixed it.

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments.

Roland
Raymon
Explorer
Jun 14, 2013
Have a "load" test performed on the chassis battery. A battery can show to be fully charged, but will not have any "cranking" power". A "load" test can be performed at many of the large parts stores like NAPA and Auto Zone; normally, there is no charge for this service.

Ray
Matt_Colie
Explorer II
Jun 14, 2013
Roland,

Don't skip the checks, but I see this sort of thing all the time in the boats I tend. It is a bad battery cable junction. Plan to disassemble and clean all the terminals from the start battery to the the starter. In vehicles, it gets really bad with the salt on the roads - Like along Huron River Drive. So, if you clean and re-assemble all the connections with some di-electric grease, it will be a long time before the problem comes up again. All greases (except some specials) are di-electric, but what is sold as di-electric grease has near Zero film strength, so, it cannot prevent and electrical connection form happening when it is made. It can protect that connection from some intrusion.

Matt - over off Savage
Ro646a
Explorer
Jun 13, 2013
I went out this morning and it acted dead again when I turned the ignition key. So I hit the aux start switch and it started right up.
Then I turned it off and tried starting it with the chassis battery and this time it cracked right over as normal and started right up.

I checked the chassis battery voltage and it is 12.7 and all of the visible wiring and connections up front and clean and nice as new. I suspect that the issue, as some of you suggested, is a bad connection at the starter, since occasionally it acts the same way when using the aux start switch.

I can't get to it today, but as soon as I check this out I'll report back to you.

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

Roland
Tom_Barb
Explorer
Jun 13, 2013
Have your local auto parts store do a high rate discharge test on the chassis battery.

You have the same symptoms that we had when we needed new batteries. It would crank when warm, but not when cold, or if it sat a few days, even though the house power was charging the battery, it would not hold the charge.

If it will start off the house batteries, the starter and relays are good.
Grillmeister
Explorer
Jun 13, 2013
Executive wrote:
My money is on a bad cable or ground...most likely on the starter batteries. Remove the cables, one at a time, clean em, lube em and reinstall. Let us know if that fixes the problem....Dennis
X2. Also be sure to check the connection on the starter too. Mine was bad once and you could see the connection was black from heat and resistance.
Executive45
Explorer III
Jun 13, 2013
My money is on a bad cable or ground...most likely on the starter batteries. Remove the cables, one at a time, clean em, lube em and reinstall. Let us know if that fixes the problem....Dennis
othertonka
Explorer
Jun 13, 2013
Also check your chassis battery voltage with the engine off, should be 12.7 volts for a fully charged battery. Any thing less and you need to charge the battery or have it load tested. And you might want to clean the battery terminals on the chassis battery
path1
Explorer
Jun 13, 2013
but I suspect that the cable terminal on the starter might be corroded or dirty

And I suspect your right.