2002 Ford Ranger Won't Start - 6 Cylinder Gasoline - Ranger Engine Tech

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Hails from the land of rust!

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The pictures are silly online for the CTEK, don't worry, regular power cable all included.

Fusible link can normally be visually inspected as bad IIRC.

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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2018 03:21 pm

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black06xlt
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mh9162013 wrote:
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

I didn't leave a open door and there wasn't a light on or anything when I parked the truck when it was running last.

As for the radio, it acts funny, but it's been installed in the truck for the past few years with the prior owner with no problems (from a battery drain perspective).

As for the Ctek chargers, I saw a few on Amazon, but none seem to have a regular outlet plug. Where does the incoming power come in? Or do I have to buy a power supply separately, like with many hobby-style R/C plane/heli/car chargers?

If the fusible link is bad, how would I know? Will it look burned out or melted or something?
Easiest way to tell is run a jumper wire to see if corrects the problem. I've seen the links melt and break in two when they go bad. Ive also seen them with no visible evidence of being bad. The link is the harness that goes from the battery to the alternator. The harness should be routed on top of the engine in the front

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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2018 05:00 pm

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mh9162013
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I'll take a look at the harness and purchase the following CTEK charger:

CTEK (56-158 MULTI US 3300 12 Volt Fully Automatic 4 Step Battery Charger

I'll report back with any updates.

Thanks again for all the help!

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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2018 05:02 pm

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Solid choice, keep us updated.

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Posted: Sat Sep 1st, 2018 11:47 am

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mh9162013
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Update: I used my CTEK Multi US 3300 charger and when I hooked everything up, it said the battery was charging (no surprise there). About 11.5 hours later, it still said it was charging, but I had to unplug it because I was leaving the house for about an hour. About an hour later, I hook it back up and it says it's fully charged (not that surprised...I know this happens with chargers and batteries in other applications).

So I try to start up the truck and almost nothing happens. I get the THEFT light to come on momentarily, but when trying to start the truck, almost none of the dash lights come on and if they do, they're VERY faint. Also, nothing happens. No turning over, no rapid clicking/buzzing, nothing.

I tried using the horn and still nothing, except a different type of rapid clicking.

Assuming it's not the battery, what else could be up with this truck? It worked just fine until I put it into storage.

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Posted: Sat Sep 1st, 2018 12:11 pm

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JAMMAN

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Dang I want to drive down with a volt meter I could crack this in 10 minutes I love electrical problems.

I have seen on other vehicles but never a ranger a battery cable being just plain bad. It would take 2 people to look at this unless you had some long leads and alligator clips.

The negative is easier to check than positive since it is right up front.

I have an "unusual" method I use, I set my volt meter on volts (don't use ohms or resistance for this you could destroy your meter). I put one lead right in the center of the battery post (not the connector but the battery post itself) and the other exactly where the wire attaches to the bolt wherever the end of the cable is.

Have someone attempt to crank it over.

If there is resistance in either terminal you will actually see voltage! To do the same with positive you have to use alligator clip on the other (starter) end of the positive wire to one lead on the volt meter and the other to the middle of the positive terminal.

Both wires should read zero volts or a couple MV max.

I have seen corroded crimps on the bolt end of cables and have seen bad connections inside the terminal clamp too.

Any way it goes something is stopping the battery from powering the rest of the system there are like 10 things that could do this man I wish I were there.

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Posted: Sat Sep 1st, 2018 12:31 pm

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mh9162013
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JAMMAN, so it sounds like you're saying the battery could be ok, but perhaps it's the wiring or something similar?

I will remove the cables and "clean" the battery posts/terminals. They are clean already with little, if any, signs of corrosion or connection problems. However, I will double check and make 100% sure.

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Posted: Sat Sep 1st, 2018 12:34 pm

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I'm saying the cable itself could have a bad crimp, the procedure I gave was for checking that.

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Posted: Sat Sep 1st, 2018 02:07 pm

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mh9162013
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Makes sense, thank you for your advice.

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Posted: Sat Sep 1st, 2018 04:30 pm

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Whilst your at it, were you charging this in the truck? Can you disconnect the battery and charge properly?

Remember the CTEK has stages/cycles it wants to complete, you should just let it do that - it's safe to leave on when leaving the house, too many safeguards to worry about it.

Battery probably is ok at this stage, however if the truck has something weird going on, it'll possibly be giving the charger false feedback on the battery state, hence wanting it to complete the charging cycle without the truck interfering.

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Posted: Sat Sep 1st, 2018 05:28 pm

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mh9162013
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I was charging the battery while it was hooked up in the truck. If checking the cables and connections doesn't help, I'll try charging it again while it's not connected to anything but the CTEK.

Thanks!

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Posted: Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 10:39 am

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410customs

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Do you have a voltage meter?
I suspect a bad alternator here and possibly some bad battery cables/terminals/ground

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Posted: Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 01:11 pm

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mh9162013
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410customs wrote:
Do you have a voltage meter?
I suspect a bad alternator here and possibly some bad battery cables/terminals/ground
Yeah, I'm getting the impression it's the battery, cables and/or alternator. I'm trying to eliminate the battery right now.

And yes, I have a voltmeter, but I haven't gotten a chance to unpack it (it's somewhere in a big pile of boxes and it'll take a while to find it...I hate going through boxes, but I may have to if it turns out the battery is fine).

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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2018 08:47 pm

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mh9162013
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Update:

Yesterday I had some free time, so I started working on the Ford Ranger. I removed both sets of battery cables, but when I removed the red/positive cable, the clamp literally fell off the cables. The reason it fell off (besides corrosion) was because it was too short to begin with. So instead of reinstalling the clamp, I bought an extension and guess what? The Ranger started as it should (it still has starting issues, but it's always had that ever since the prior owner drove it and it's to be expected).

Anyways, thank you all for your help and patience. I have a lot more work to do on this Ranger, so I'm sure I'll be back with more questions!

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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2018 09:09 pm

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YAY I am glad it is working now, thank you for updating us. :)

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Posted: Tue Mar 12th, 2019 11:48 am

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mh9162013
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So, I set aside working on the Ranger for a while and kept both battery cables attached to the battery and haven't run the truck since my last post. When I tried to start it up a few weeks ago, nothing happened. It's as if the truck doesn't even have a battery. I plugged in the CTEK charger, but the battery won't accept the charge. According to the manual, the battery might be bad or a connection is off. However, I'm not doing anything differently than I did in the past when everything worked.

I'm wondering if the battery could have gone bad over the past 6 months or so? I find that hard to believe since it just sat in the truck all winter. But if the battery is ok, why won't it accept a charge? I'm hesitant to jump start the truck since I think I did it improperly or something as a few lights no longer work (brake light, turn signal, etc.). I could also take the battery to the local car parts store, but I'm curious as to what you guys think.

Thanks ahead for all your help.

Last edited on Tue Mar 12th, 2019 11:48 am by mh9162013

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Posted: Tue Mar 12th, 2019 12:45 pm

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I would have the battery checked by a local store first - it *is* possible that it died over the past 6 months, and that's making it sound like you have a phantom draw on the truck whilst off.

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Posted: Tue Mar 12th, 2019 01:24 pm

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mh9162013
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Yeah, I figured taking it to the store is probably what I'll need to do. I thought I'd check in here first given how helpful you all are.

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Posted: Tue Mar 12th, 2019 02:06 pm

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black06xlt
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It's very possible that the battery went bad over the winter. With cold temps and a little draw can kill a battery but as mentioned I would have the battery checked before buying a new one

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Posted: Tue Mar 12th, 2019 10:29 pm

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Chris wrote:
mh9162013 wrote:

I hear a very rapid set of clicks, which is more like a buzzing sound. The best way to describe it is to liken it to the CIWS point defense gun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsVUISS8oHs

You can fast forward to the 20 second mark for the sound.
Classic symptom of a discharged battery or a bad connection - either at the battery or the earthing strap of the engine.

The sound is of the starter solenoid chattering in and out.
My thoughts too. If the cable terminal was off there is a possibility of a bad alternator. but you wont know till you have a good battery.

And coil pack is correct.

Dont be afraid to ask questions. Lots of us got our info that way. There are lots of good helpers here.

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Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 12:08 pm

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mh9162013
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Just got back from the car parts store. The store's tester said the battery was shot and when they tried charging it, it read 8.4v after one hour. I bought a new battery and the truck started up (all things considered). Thanks again for all your help!

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Posted: Sat Mar 16th, 2019 10:26 am

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