96 Explorer Won't Start but Can Jumper Relay

[Josh B]

Yesterday I was leaving to go to a family thing and already running late but it wouldn't start. The dash lights and fan came on but went off when I turned the key to start.
The dome lights seemed a bit weak so I thought maybe the battery had gone dead (new battery). The Ranger has an almost new battery so I swapped them but it did the same.

I came back in and searched the forums but found no clues but eventually realized a couple had mentioned starting it with a jumper to the relay, so I tried that and it fired right up.
After the family thing it started no problem and on the trip home stopped at Wmart and there it started ok also.

Last night I was going out and had to jumper it again, same thing when I left to go home.

I saw on one thread the guy had discovered a weak ground to be the culprit so I'll check that out today.

Are there other common reasons this could be happening?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

[Uncle Gump]

Jumping the starter relay really does one thing... bypasses the start wire coming from the ignition switch. If it were a bad ground in the starting system... jumping the relay wouldn't "correct/bypass" that.

Also being that it is intermittent... I would think the likely culprit would be the ignition switch.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

The first thing I would do is check/replace the wire leasing to the starter. I had the same symptoms on a f150. Turns out the crimped on connector at the starter was corroded away. BUT the real problem was the copper wiring from in the starter to the post on the starter was also corroded away. So check the starter real close too.

 

[Josh B]

I pulled the battery cable off the starter and brushed it all up good but it had no effect.
The shift cable still wasn't sitting right but I'd been driving it as it was, still trying to get it adjusted. It reached the point of not really locking into Park which left me in a conundrum but I'd set the parking brake hard, until one night stopped into walmart while headed home and upon jumpering it started going in reverse. I quickly realized it was headed towards the cars across the lane and jumped in quickly to stop it.
That was a wake-up! Even considered running two wires through the firewall for the jumper until getting this part figured out.
The next day I chocked the rear and jacked up the front and re-adjusted the linkage(after realizing I had been counting the detents from the wrong direction :/ )
I had already swapped out the fender relay to no avail, so decided to swap the starter too, but that dam thing is extremely difficult to remove because on this one the top bolt cannot be reached from the top side because of the additional brake anti-lock contraption and its additional lines up there (nor from the bottom! ) The only way I could see was run extensions to the front, with a couple wobbles, and have 4 people holding it all in line while one backs it out.
The bottom starter bolt was also extremely difficult to remove, and rusty(glad I did)

After realizing I wasn't going to change that starter anytime soon I brushed that bolt up good which anchors the starter as well as holding the battery ground(on the extended stud beyond the initial bolt) and put it all back together(in the dark I think it was)

It worked! Not just brushing the outer battery ground wire area, but also Underneath The Anchoring Stud!

It's also starting great now(from inside, haha) but still not adjusting properly for the transmission, although at least it IS locking into Park(although it's around N, and drive is @ 1)

 

[acsnowrider]

Check you "shift cable mount bolts", under the dash, on the steering column--I've seen many loosen up, some even broken off---causes cable alignment to veer off.