HELP! Starter Cranking by Itself!

[tigerpb]

My 2000 3.0 has a weird problem. I was lying in bed this morning, and was startled by the sound of my Ranger cranking itself over in the driveway! No one in it, no keys in the ignition!

By the time I got outside, it had stopped cranking over. I put my keys in the ignition, and switched it on. The dashboard and gauges lit up as usual. One odd thing, the CD ejected itself from the player when the key was switched on.

I then twisted the key and started the truck. It started right up. But, I could hear the starter still cranking while the truck was idling. I shut the truck off and the starter continued to crank. It cranked over for another 30 seconds, until the battery sounded like it was drained.

I'v never had anything like this happen on any car I've owned. Is this a common Ranger problem? The truck had the starter replaced about 6 months ago, but there's been no problems till now.

Any experiences with this? Could a bad relay, solenoid or ignition switch cause this?
BTW, I do not have a remote starter or after market alarm installed.
Thanks!

 

[koda6966]

 

[BlackBII]

My guess is the starter solenoid, did you ever have a low battery?

When you have a low battery, and crank the starter, the current actually goes up, and can weld the contacts together in the solenoid. That is what happend on my bike, luckily, solenoids are rather cheap for rangers. ~$10 or so

 

[tigerpb]

RE: Starter Cranking by Itself!

Possessed? Nah, I'm hoping it's just an electrical gremlin.

 

[tigerpb]

RE: Starter Cranking by Itself!

I forgot to add that I replaced the battery about 6 months ago, so it's almost new. What's got me puzzled is how the solenoid could energize itself and kick over the starter motor without the keys in the ignition.

My guess is the starter solenoid, did you ever have a low battery?

When you have a low battery, and crank the starter, the current actually goes up, and can weld the contacts together in the solenoid. That is what happend on my bike, luckily, solenoids are rather cheap for rangers. ~$10 or so

 

[BlackBII]

I forgot to add that I replaced the battery about 6 months ago, so it's almost new. What's got me puzzled is how the solenoid could energize itself and kick over the starter motor without the keys in the ignition.

Leave the keys out of the truck and then jump the solenoid terminals with a screwdriver, then you'll see.

When you turn the key, there is a small red/blue wire going to the solenoid which closes it, causing the starter to crank, basically jumps the two terminals, like with the screwdriver.

 

[shadetree]

Here is a possibility. Starters continuing to run seems to be fairly common.
Later Ford starting systems were changed around 1990 to a different system. Up until that time, the starter solenoid was an integral part of the starter, and the only cable going to the starter was from the fender relay.

After that time, Ford put a removable solenoid on the starter, and continued to use the fender relay as a current control device. In so doing, the starter solenoid now has power directly from the battery, and the fender relay is used only to actuate the starter solenoid coil.

The problem arises when the starter actuator mechanism that engages the flywheel (commonly called a Bendix) doesn't release properly keeping the solenoid electrical contacts closed, and the starter continues to run. In your case, the solenoid may not be releasing totally, and as the engine cools down to a certain temperature, the contacts re-make, and the starter starts turning again.

It could also be just a fluke, one time thing. If it is the ignition switch causing the problem, when the engine is turning over, remove the small wire from the fender relay, and it should stop.

If the fender relay is the problem, replacement is the only valid check.shady