"Dead" ranger

[Ford86Ranger]

My 86 ranger 4x4 2.9 has been sitting for a lil while until I had time to replace the front axle. well i got that all done and went to start it today and it wont fire it wont turn over or anything. lights,radio,horn noting works.battery is good. what could be the problem?

 

[Earl43P]

Cables, Battery terminals, grounds.

Check for Battery power at the starter (follow the big red wire) and at the alternator.

If you have power there, it's probably a bad ground.

 

[mhughes165]

if its been sittin for osme time then odds are the starter solenoid may have froze up on u, bridge the batter side and starter side of the solenoid and see if it cranks, if it cranks then its ur solenoid, if it doesnt then its ur starter or cables

 

[Ford86Ranger]

my brother just informed me.(who is not very mechanicaly inclined) that when i asked him to put the battery in he put it in backwards and the solenoid started smoking so he took the cables off. if the solenoid was bad wouldnt the lights still work?

 

[almostclueless]

damn, thats BAD

 

[fordboi415]

sounds like your ground is loose, i would still check the solenoid though

 

[Psychopete]

my brother just informed me.(who is not very mechanicaly inclined)

I can't make any sense on how it's set up stock with the terminals closest to the core support. It's really easy to hook them up backwards if you're not paying attention to the + and - marks on the battery. One would think the battery needs flipped to be away from the core support and more towards the airbox/engine. I've caught myself almost getting it backwards a couple of times, but I always double check for the + and the red cable because I know the battery doesn't go in the way it looks it should.

Start with testing conectivity from the + terminal to the solenoid and from the ground to the chasis. If everything looks good there, uh oh. Unfortunately, that could be next to impossible to resolve with out a wiring diagram. Who knows what all is smoked.

Pete

 

[mhughes165]

my brother just informed me.(who is not very mechanicaly inclined) that when i asked him to put the battery in he put it in backwards and the solenoid started smoking so he took the cables off. if the solenoid was bad wouldnt the lights still work?

everything would still work the starter just would not engage....and if he smoked it best to replace it anyways, for the $10 dollar convienence theres no reason not to, and odds are that solves ur problem

 

[odie1969]

hopefully he only fried the silonoid he may have fried the ecu and all sort of fuses. hopefully he never tried to crank the truck.

 

[Ford86Ranger]

It all worked out.solenoid was still good.but there was a yellow wire with a fuseable link in it connected to the solenoid that was fried.so i cut that and spliced a new wire in and she fired right up.

 

[IMenriched]

It all worked out.solenoid was still good.but there was a yellow wire with a fuseable link in it connected to the solenoid that was fried.so i cut that and spliced a new wire in and she fired right up.

Ain't it great when it works out ..SUPER to hear you got it running!

 

[Psychopete]

It all worked out.solenoid was still good.but there was a yellow wire with a fuseable link in it connected to the solenoid that was fried.so i cut that and spliced a new wire in and she fired right up.

LUCKY! But good to hear it's going again.

Did you put a new fuse link in it? If not, you probably won't be as lucky next time. Also removing fuse links puts you at risk for electrical fire. There's a reason things are fused .

Pete