bruce3butler
New Member
I Had a major malfunction which lead to cascading issues with my 5.4L 2005 Ford Expedition XLT
these are the majors events that lead me here -
*Changed my starter recently
*Ran out of gas on highway 3 days ago
*gas can had broken nozzle so filled tank one water bottle at a time
*attempted to start after each fill
*cranked for 8-10 seconds each attempt (started smelling weird )
*after many attempts my battery completely died (which I expected and knew I had a fully charged jump box)
*hooked up jump box and it starts beeping rapidly (later I found in the manual this is the "reverse polarity protection")
*not thinking any other issues other then a dead battery I call my fiancée to give me a jump
*we try to jump my truck and we started smelling burning and seeing smoke
*we removed the jumpers and the entire cable is very warm
*we towed it to storage for more diag
**Next day**
*my first thought is the starter died
*to test I attempted to Power the truck with 2nd car to rule out the battery issue
*once again lots of smoke and heat
*Start removing different power wires on battery
*found grounding straps would start to heat up and burn when trying to jump as well as clamps on both batteries
*found I could charge and jump the battery without catastrophe when one of the cables was removed from circuit
*that cable was to the Internal fuse box (I've since inspected the cable and can't find any signs of damage)
-- until now I hadn't gotten ANYTHING from the car since being roadside , no lights on dash , no crank , no start--
replaced that wire and I once again have power in the car!! and I can Support Diag with 2nd running car jumped to battery
*now when I turn the key to start there's a few clicks (Starter Relay , and Starter solenoid) but no crank.
*I checked relay by switching with a nearby one and can audibly hear the click from the cabin
*Had someone attempt to start while i was under the car and could hear and feel the "click" from solenoid engaging (maybe bad contacts in solenoid?)
*I bridged the connection between main Power wire and the Starter motor (while someone attempted to start it) (and it was being jumped) and it has a very strong crank but showed no effort to start
* Checked all fuses and relays in fuse box and all were intact
*checked the resistance in the starter circuit (from independent + and - connectors at battery) and got .2 ohms
*tested for continuity between S Wire and Pos , S Wire and Neg , and Pos to Neg. (all passed)
*when key is turned to "on" position I cannot hear the fuel pump engaging (possibly more electrical components were fried?)
*Haven't load tested the battery yet
* Tried a pull Start going 20MPH in Neutral, still just clicks but no crank
I'm Really stumped at this point because while replacing that wire seemed to have helped I literally have no clue why it helped or what could have caused it to malfunction to begin with.
Anybody wanna take a crack at helping me diag>?
these are the majors events that lead me here -
*Changed my starter recently
*Ran out of gas on highway 3 days ago
*gas can had broken nozzle so filled tank one water bottle at a time
*attempted to start after each fill
*cranked for 8-10 seconds each attempt (started smelling weird )
*after many attempts my battery completely died (which I expected and knew I had a fully charged jump box)
*hooked up jump box and it starts beeping rapidly (later I found in the manual this is the "reverse polarity protection")
*not thinking any other issues other then a dead battery I call my fiancée to give me a jump
*we try to jump my truck and we started smelling burning and seeing smoke
*we removed the jumpers and the entire cable is very warm
*we towed it to storage for more diag
**Next day**
*my first thought is the starter died
*to test I attempted to Power the truck with 2nd car to rule out the battery issue
*once again lots of smoke and heat
*Start removing different power wires on battery
*found grounding straps would start to heat up and burn when trying to jump as well as clamps on both batteries
*found I could charge and jump the battery without catastrophe when one of the cables was removed from circuit
*that cable was to the Internal fuse box (I've since inspected the cable and can't find any signs of damage)
-- until now I hadn't gotten ANYTHING from the car since being roadside , no lights on dash , no crank , no start--
replaced that wire and I once again have power in the car!! and I can Support Diag with 2nd running car jumped to battery
*now when I turn the key to start there's a few clicks (Starter Relay , and Starter solenoid) but no crank.
*I checked relay by switching with a nearby one and can audibly hear the click from the cabin
*Had someone attempt to start while i was under the car and could hear and feel the "click" from solenoid engaging (maybe bad contacts in solenoid?)
*I bridged the connection between main Power wire and the Starter motor (while someone attempted to start it) (and it was being jumped) and it has a very strong crank but showed no effort to start
* Checked all fuses and relays in fuse box and all were intact
*checked the resistance in the starter circuit (from independent + and - connectors at battery) and got .2 ohms
*tested for continuity between S Wire and Pos , S Wire and Neg , and Pos to Neg. (all passed)
*when key is turned to "on" position I cannot hear the fuel pump engaging (possibly more electrical components were fried?)
*Haven't load tested the battery yet
* Tried a pull Start going 20MPH in Neutral, still just clicks but no crank
I'm Really stumped at this point because while replacing that wire seemed to have helped I literally have no clue why it helped or what could have caused it to malfunction to begin with.
Anybody wanna take a crack at helping me diag>?
