Help with Ford T-Bird Starting problems

[crom]

Looking for some help with my son's '97 T-Bird. He has the LX with the 4.6L. The car will run great for awhile then out of the blue it won't start. The first time it happened, I pulled the starter and bench checked it. Checked good. Then I checked the starter relay. Checked good. I ended up replacing the ignition switch and that fixed it. A month and half later it's doing the same thing. The car will click when you go to start it. Sometimes just once, sometimes a couple times and then the whole electrical system seems to shut down. No lights, pwr door locks won't work, nothing. I don't like to shotgun parts anybody experience this or have any info it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[RR|Suki]

96 cougar... same issue...
what as wrong with mine was the starter solenoid (sp) was bad... it had like bad spots on it so in sertain positions it's a no go... if it was jared a little or anything it would be fine. Before that however while it was going bad it was killing batteries and such... changed battery, everything was fine for a while... then it would randomly not want to start, until I got what your son has, just a click and no starter activity... also the bad starter has prob been killin the batt. so now when you click over there is prob a two fold issue...
I changed my starter, had the batt drained and charged at a shop... and now trouble free for about a year. Hopefully it's something as simple as my issue

[melfunkshun]

Looking for some help with my son's '97 T-Bird. He has the LX with the 4.6L. The car will run great for awhile then out of the blue it won't start. The first time it happened, I pulled the starter and bench checked it. Checked good. Then I checked the starter relay. Checked good. I ended up replacing the ignition switch and that fixed it. A month and half later it's doing the same thing. The car will click when you go to start it. Sometimes just once, sometimes a couple times and then the whole electrical system seems to shut down. No lights, pwr door locks won't work, nothing. I don't like to shotgun parts anybody experience this or have any info it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It could be something as simple as cleaning your battery terminals......I had the exact same problem with my Ford Explorer. Same symptoms....power locks wouldn't work, no lights, and when I would turn the key to attempt to start it, it would just click. Cleaned the terminals...problem was solved.

[crom]

Thanks for the ideas, please keep them coming. I told my son to pull the starter and have it bench checked again. I cleaned the terminals and the battery is only a few months old. If the starter checks good on the bench check, I might go ahead and tell him to replace it anyway. That way the new one will be under warranty. I'm in the USMC, but I also work part time at Advance Auto so I get a discount on parts. Like I said before, I just hate to shotgun parts. I'm thinking maybe the ign. switch went bad again, I wonder if a bad/intermittent starter solenoid would cause the switch to go bad?

[Marauderjack]

My Daughter has a 2001 Mustang GT and it was doing the same thing periodically.....Her dealer ran some diagnostics and found something like a "Starter Interlock" was bad....I will see her tonight and see exactly what it was....I think it cost $175.00 or so at the dealer??:confused:

Could be this is what you have going on too??:help:

Marauderjack:cool:

[Marauderman]

Well , wife has a '97 T-Bird 4.6 and has had no problems as yet--but it just turned 48K--and is on 2nd battery (maybe 3 years old).....was gonna say check the battery and stuff that has already mentioned, so since it has been said....no need.....but the battery has been the BIG starter to solving most of the problems with this car I have found--kinda funny and strange--but anyway..........some batteries "new" are still bad--so a newer or post cleaning does say alot.......BTW--How many miles on yours--did not see where that was said if at all--maybe that may add some light---hope all works out---

BTW--Will be putting 410's into wife's '97 Bird this week--so afterwards with her chip tuned for this--she should feel a seat of the pants push she has been wanting like the MM---Naw--an't gonna be like that --but somewhat close--:lol:......Tom

[Marauderjack]

Well....I was wrong!!:shake:

She described her problem and it sounds like her bendix was out of whack...She couldn't find the bill so I'm clue-less??:confused:

Sorry....I thought I had an answer for ya??:cool:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[crom]

A little more info. The car has approx. 94,000 miles on it. It was a rental from down in GA for the first 80,000. Then bought by an individual in Wilmington, NC and traded in at a dealership with 92,000 miles on it. My son bought it from a used car dealer with 92,000 miles on it. I'm still waiting on him to get back to me on the starter bench check. The first time this happened I replaced the ign switch and it fixed it. I'm thinking the switch may be bad again, if so cheap to replace. If it is, I'm wondering if something else is causing it to go bad. I checked the battery last time it happened and it checked good. I'll have my son check that too along with bench checking the starter. Thanks again for all the input, please keep the ideas coming. Semper Fi!

[jerrym3]

Change the battery cables.

I haven't had this problem with my 94 TBird LX 4.6, but I have had it with my 1958 TBird.

[mtnh]

As Jerry said, the cables could be bad on the non-battery terminations. I had one go bad, right inside the crimp on the lug that bolted to the earth connection on the negative end. The same problem could happen on the starter or solenoid end of the positive cable. Also, since you work at an autoparts store, get the battery LOAD tested. Clean terminals can certainly make it look like the wiring is in great shape, but an intermittently open internal cell link can be really ugly to troubleshoot. The fact that your son's lights and power locks don't work rules out the starter and the ignition switch.

Good luck and semper fi,

Mike

[wildman649]

Iam thinking about the side of the circuit ,check the main ground at the engine.Possible voltage drop. good luck:)

[crom]

To all who responded, THANKS! My son found a bunch of corrosion under the battery cables sheathing. He cleaned it all up best he could and now the car starts. He is coming home this weekend and we will go ahead and replace them with some new cables. Thanks again to all, mucho appreciated! :2thumbs: