Please help 90 2.9 won"t start

[stosh]

I've got a 1990 2.9 V6 ranger that will not start. I left my lights on the other night and had to jump it before i took off the next day. I went and cut wood and it ran fine all day, then after i went to stop at the house to get something to drink i turned the engine off and when i went to start it again it won't go. I first thought it was the solenoid but thats fine. and I checked the started and it rotates. it doesn't crank at all. It just makes noise by the solenoid. I checked the timeing too. Please help. I need ideas i can't do anything without my truck my car just blew the engine so I was relying on it. PLEASE HELP

 

[Big Jim M]

Very common for leaving the lights on all day.. EITHER you killed the battery or you have burnt the battery connections. First check the voltage directly at the battery posts (not the cables at the posts). There should be OVER 12 volts at those posts. If anything LESS than 12 the battery is toast! If you have 12.6 or therabouts then take the cables off and give the posts and the inside of the cables a good scraping/cleaning. Sand paper is good for this if available. If not then even a pocket knife will do in a crunch.
Big JIm

 

[stosh]

battery is fine. how do I know if the connections are burnt. anything else I could try? I'm brain boggled

 

[stosh]

figured how to start it. it just needs 2 people. gotta jump the solenoid. what causes that problem

 

[Big Jim M]

figured how to start it. it just needs 2 people. gotta jump the solenoid. what causes that problem

Get another solenoid!
Big JIm

 

[Psychopete]

Test for 12 volts with a test light at the R/LB wire on the starter solenoid to verify it's getting a signal from the key switch. Could be bad solenoid, NSS failure, or key switch problem.

 

[stosh]

it is now making a ticking noise, I think of the passenger side of the engine but is running fine. any thoughts