Today when I went to pick up my youngin' turned the truck off and it wouldn't start again. With the way it was acting I think it is the ignition switch. I was going to tow (drag) it to the garage, it is about 2 or 3 miles from where it died. The question I have is since it is an automatic will this short distance hurt the tranny? If any of you wish to try and diagnose the problem here are the symptoms. I tried to turn the engine over nothing happened no buzz or dash lights or anything. I figured there was a loose connection and jiggled the wires a little. After that I got a buzz for the key in the ignition but nothing when I tried to turn it over. I did noticed that the volts would jump quickly when I turned it on but go back to nothing quickly. I jiggled the switch and notcied the odo finally came on, the volts came back up and the buzz grew stronger, however when I tried to turn it over it gave just a moan (similar to a very low battery.) I figured the solenoid must be bad, so I jumped it, no go.

 

Ok I'll stab at it...in this order.
1. Bad battery connection(it might look ok but often its not).
2. Battery cable connection at starter. corroded?
3. Engine locked up, siezed, finished, ka-putt.
4. starter...smack it with the end of your metric adjustable to see if its stuck, then try to start again.

It should be OK in nuetral for a mile or two. Good luck.

 

also put your tilt (if you have one) all the way down and watch for the rod to move . if the rod doesnt move you can move it to start the truck with a pair of needle nose. this also means the keyway axis is broken as mine was .

 

Thanks for the help. Had my wife's Explorer drag it to the garage, she said it drove like it was pulling nothing. I might have to steal her car to tow a boat instead of all the wear and tear on my truck.

 

I had the same prob a few weeks ago at the car wash(very embarassing) ended up being the neg battery cable wasn't tight enough..so check how tight the cables are and clean them with some baking soda...or even regular soda pop like pepsi or coke.

 

It turns out the battery was good enough to run the accessories, but not good enough to turn the engine over. If the draned thing would just go completely out or stay good, it makes backyard troubleshhoting much easier. Oh well, at least it wasn't expensive.