P0320 code

[James Morse]

I don't think it's in the terminals (exterior) / connections, I get same results testing to the terminals or to the connectors.
When we jumped it we hooked to the battery connectors (i.e. same as hooking to the battery exterior terminals).
Sorry we are crossing msgs.
I agree cables could be bad but like Ron said if so then jumping wouldn't have helped. Though I'm tempted to put a new battery in it and see if it goes away, they aren't that expensive and the one in there is probably old as rocks.
Didn't do voltage drop with headlights on because as I said it cranked to no cranking in 8-10 seconds.

 

[RonD]

Battery is bad

Did you test voltage to get the 12.6 AFTER battery sat overnight?
Can you test your volt meter on another vehicle battery?

Batterys show false higher voltage just after charging, i.e. engine running, so you need to wait a few hours to test them, the longer the better

 

[James Morse]

Multiple msgs I know... guess what now it's going from bad to worse. Battery tests at 12.7V, I put coil 4-wire connector back on, and it cranks and cranks but won't start, like it's getting no fuel. How could taking that off and putting it back 'cause' this or am I getting failures as I go? At least before I could start it now it seems dead in water, You think it's flooded from cranking with no spark or what? Tries to fire but just no go. Ack.

Yes I tested it this AM after it sat all night like you said to do.
EDIT tested Rabbit battery it says 12.3. Tested brand new 9v battery it says 9.7. I think tester is ok.
EDIT2 took off battery connections will leave off 5 minutes maybe something needs to reset. Checked that coil 4-wire is tight. Did not pull on wires when taking it off.
EDIT 3 that made no diff, but while cranking I tapped accelerator a couple times and it started / runs. I thought with injection that doing that wouldn't make a difference but apparently it does.
I have to head out a while. Still puzzled, it failed the voltage drop test badly but it cranks like no tomorrow so something is definitely weird somewhere. Thanks and 'to be continued' unless it never happens again which I seriously doubt.

 

[RonD]

Engine was flooded after voltage drop test, injectors were pumping out fuel while cranking

Adding more air(tapping the throttle) dried it out enough to start

Not weird, just bad battery

Did you happen to test the battery voltage after the voltage drop test?
When it stopped cranking

Rabbit needs a new battery

 

[James Morse]

Yes battery fine after weird voltage drop test, 12.7+. Have no idea what's going on. Went out (it started, as I said), had dinner, afterwards it started right up again. But I suspect it, whatever it is, will happen again. Really hard to figure it out when it comes and goes like this and only happens on occasion and can't pin it to any set of circumstances.
Rabbit is hardly ever driven, is g/f's, might just be somewhat discharged, but I will take that under advisement for sure. I think that battery isn't very old, I remember putting it in a year or two ago.
Thanks for explanation why throttle tap got it going that makes perfect sense.
Sounds like you are saying get a new battery for the truck.
I sure appreciate all the help.

 

[James Morse]

Checked batteries and wow, expensive. I was thinking 50-60 but more like 170 for the one I have in there now. I'm going to hold off on that for the moment because in all situations the battery was never low plus yesterday when it was flooded and wouldn't start I cranked it tons and it was still cranking strong. I wonder if during the voltage drop test it just was flooded to the point where it was hard for it to turn over (just a conjecture).

I imagine what I have reported sounds almost like I'm making up crap to yank people around but I swear everything I report is exactly as it happens. We'll see what today brings. It's so bizarre. I don't mind replacing parts when needed but I hate throwing money at something if I'm not fairly sure that's the issue. When I get in these situations where it can't even crank, but the battery tests good, that just doesn't make me think it's the battery, it's got to be something else flaky.

 

[James Morse]

This is getting really frustrating. It worked yesterday, then today it was 'dead'. Finally by wiggling ignition switch around it started. So I said to myself, ah, bad switch. But then it wouldn't start again, and I jumped it, and it started fine. I got home, tested voltage, it was 12.3-12.4, it tried to crank a bit but the voltage drop was significant so I said, ok, bad battery. I bought a new Diehard, $180. Put that in, now all I get is 'click' which is the solenoid, but no cranking at all, so now I'm saying, probably dead spot on starter motor, or, bad connection somewhere. It seems like the starter is in a bad place. I know we used to whack them with a screwdriver handle but I think that's mainly for solenoid problem and I get a 'click' every time so probably the solenoid is ok and the starter is bad. Or connection somewhere.

So now I have a new battery, it tests 12.3-12.4 also so, I'm charging it with trickle charger, but I imagine now I have blown almost 200 on a battery I probably didn't need. I guess at least, assuming the new battery is good, I've eliminated that and have a new battery, but this is becoming a cash drain. Obviously I have to get the truck working.

It really made me suspect the battery because, without exception, every time I've had it fail, a jump did start it. That said to me, battery may test ok, but it's probably not holding charge (even though after fails it seemed to test ok).

In the old days they used to rebuild the starters, I've had that done plenty of times. Probably can't now.

I have never been able to get a coherent definition of the problem, at least until now where I am consistently getting nothing but the click. HELP!

What's the next course of action? Truck is dead in the water right now.

 

[rumblecloud]

Motorcraft Solenoid Switch SW-1951-C

Isn't this how it goes? One thing leads to another? Things that were fine before suddenly go bad. That's frustrating.
Frustration makes me do weird things -- like get out my credit card and load up the parts cannon. After near $200, I'm all in....
I hope you get it solved. You already have some of the most knowledgeable folks on this forum helping - I'm just chiming in to commiserate with you.

 

[James Morse]

Thanks. It just occurred to me I've been down this road, just not recently, have to go back 30-40 years. We used to jump across the starter terminals with a screwdriver and determine it that ran, then it is the solenoid bad (or something else). I'm not real eager to take off the starter, but I've done it before and I can do it again assuming I don't have to take the whole truck apart to get to it, which I seriously doubt. I know there's youtubes on it, I'm just going to pause for tonight and wait to see what RonD etc say about it before I do anything more. I suppose I could take the battery back, but the thing is, at least this way I can pretty much rule out the battery. It just made me think, well, every time it didn't work, a jump started it, so, has to be the battery. It could be multiple failures, too. So I'm keeping the battery (well, unless it's a bad one, but I don't have any basis to say that, yet) and just chalking it up to eliminating one thing that might have been involved. I suppose, let's say the old battery was ok, perhaps jumping gave just enough more power (?) to get a bad starter turning... I don't know.. heh.. that's why I'm here.

Solenoid doesn't look expensive, thanks. Also doesn't look like ones I've seen before, but what do I know.

Edit: The way I recall it is the solenoid is in a little hump on the side of the starter. When it's powered, it puts power to the starter plus it pulls the starter motor gear into contact with the flywheel. When you release from 'start' it cuts power to the starter and the gear retracts. Which is why you get grinding if you keep it on (I don't). So, if the starter motor is ok and you short to ground or whatever to give power to it, it should just whirr. If the solenoid clicks, then, theoretically it's working, but, I suppose you could hear a click but it could be shot and not giving power to the starter. So it seems like, if I can get to the starter/solenoid, I should be able to test what is not working with them, and if they are working, then it has to be, um, somewhere else.

 

[James Morse]

Since I now have consistent behavior I'm starting a new thread on this since I think most of what I wrote in this thread is garbage (what I wrote, not what others wrote).