No Power to the ignition, or anywhere else...help!

[Tamsar20]

Hey there
I'm at a complete loss as to whats going on with my Ranger. I've replaced what I thought the problem was multiple times now and can't get any power to the ignition, lights or anything. The cables were pretty corroded so I replaced those...nothing. I then I replaced the ignition switch...nothing. Today I replaced the fender starter solenoid...nothing. I'm able to bridge the terminals on that solenoid and the starter goes, so the starter(2 months old) and battery(brand new) work. I don't know what to do next, I see there is a fusible link feeding from the fender solenoid maybe that's it, I'm out of ideas. I also bench tested the ignition and fuel pump relays and they tested good.
thanks in advance for any help

1994 Ranger 4.0 XLT

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

Battery cables positive and negative, are where the power comes from, so start there

Negative is often overlooked, but there is NO 12volts if there is no 0volts, they both have to pass the same AMPs when a device is powered on
Negative battery cable should run to engine, often starter motor bolt, but to the engine
Might be smaller wires to rad support from negative terminal
On the back of passenger side head is a ground strap for the cab ground, this is the MAIN GROUND for all cab electrics
Engine and trans sit on rubber mounts, so there is no "automatic ground" because engine is grounded


On a 1994 the positive battery cable should go to starter relay on inner fender and then a cable from same post goes to Engine Fuse Box, this cable powers the whole vehicle, ALL 12v power is supplied thru engine fuse box on that one cable, if that cable is corroded then no 12v power anywhere
In engine fuse box pull out the 60amp IGN fuse and test that it has 12volt on one side, use engine metal as ground, should read exactly Battery voltage, 12.8v if battery is new

If not then that one wire from starter relay to fuse box is bad

There is another 60amp and a 40amp fuse, these power the Cab fuse box, so ALL 12v power comes from and thru the engine fuse box, and ALL on the one wire

And FYI the fusible link is for the alternator, so not the issue, if after engine starts up and alternator is not sending 13.5-14.5volts to battery then could be that fusible link, but it would be broken/separated

 

[Tamsar20]

Thanks for the quick response, so I pulled both 60amp fuses, the IGN and the FUSE PNL. I was able to get a 12.65v reading from both sides of the FUSE PNL slot and only one side of the IGN slot, also not using the engine as a ground, I couldn't get a reading there, but with the starter relay on the fender. I'm starting to think the wire leading to the IGN fuse slot is fried. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[RobbieD]

Quick test. Got jumper cables? Take one jumper cable and connect one end to the battery (-) Negative post, and connect the other end to the engine block. If things start working again, you've got a bad ground cable.

 

[dvdswan]

Welcome to the site.

 

[Tamsar20]

Thanks for the warm welcome!
Just tried the jumper cable trick, no such luck!
This is a fun little truck and would love to make it my daily driver, but I've only got a few weeks to get it going again. Drove fine when I bought it then the starter presumably went, replaced that and it worked for a while, then the volt gauge on the dash wobbled right before it stalled and that happened a few different times before what I'm dealing with now which is no power to anything...

 

[RonD]

Thanks for the quick response, so I pulled both 60amp fuses, the IGN and the FUSE PNL. I was able to get a 12.65v reading from both sides of the FUSE PNL slot and only one side of the IGN slot, also not using the engine as a ground, I couldn't get a reading there, but with the starter relay on the fender. I'm starting to think the wire leading to the IGN fuse slot is fried. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

Your ground to engine is bad, and that's the MAIN GROUND!!!!
Negative battery terminal

There is no 12 volts if there is no 0 volts

 

[Tamsar20]

I went back over what I've done, giving it another try today. I realized when I tested the slots for the IGN and FUSE PNL fuses I didn't have the negative battery cable connected...bone head move...electrics aren't my strong suit...
Trying that again using the engine as a ground I got a similar outcome where both sides of the FUSE PNL slot tested well but only one side of the IGN slot. So I'm gonna try to take apart the power distribution box and see if a bad connection to that fuse slot is my problem. Any input would be appreciated

 

[Tamsar20]

Well I don't think that's the problem either, turned the key and checked the IGN fuse slot again and it both sides had connectivity. I'm stumped, there's only so many things that can go wrong and I feel like I've checked them all, might have to pony up for a mobile mechanic to come check it out

 

[Tamsar20]

Just wanted to follow up on this problem because I had seen very similar issues across multiple forums and no one had come to a conclusion on what went wrong. I believe in my case the fender starter solenoid (or relay) went bad then I had the wires switched when I replaced it. They should have been on the lead for the power distribution box and I had them on the starter lead.

 

[RonD]

Yes, on the inner fender mounted starter relay(solenoid) there should only ever be 1 wire on the large post that has the wire that goes to starter motor
The other larger post, with battery positive cable, will have ALL the other wires on it, all 12volt power for the whole vehicle is connected to this one post