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Explorer Circuit Breaker

I have a 95 Explorer with the one and only 4.0L engine offered that year. When I start the car I get a momentary grinding noise which I am sure is the starter gear not retracting quickly enough. So I need a new starter. Last night as I turned the ignition it cranked for a second and then everything died. No lights, no radio, no nothing, as if the battery had suddenly been disconnected. My first thought was a current overload on the starter that popped a fuse. However, I wasn't sure what fuse would cause everything to lose power. Anyways I did a quick check of the fuses and found none visibly blown. I then disconnected the battery and did a quick voltmeter reading -

12.8V, OK. I then reconnected the battery and was surprised when the underhood light illuminated. The vehicle is working fine at the moment. My question. Is there some type of circuit breaker mechanism that would explain what happened? Either by waiting long enough or by disconnecting the battery it seemed to fix itself. This has never happend before in the eleven years I've had this car. I understand I probably need to change out the starter, but I'm not sure why things died and then fixed themselves. I'm curious. Mark
Reply to
Mark Barrett
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I'm just guessing but maybe the starter motor is so bad it was shorting out the battery causing a loss of power to everything. From what you said it would have to have been stuck in that position and then released somehow. Maybe a stuck selenoid along with a bad starter? I've seen starters do weird things.

I don't *think* there is any autoreset circuit breaker that would do this, at least not in an early Explorer.

Reply to
Ulysses

Your vehicle does not have any CB which shuts down the whole vehicle. I've had this problem happen to me numerous times on other vehicles. You had a loose battery connection. The starter sucks a ton of juice when you turn the vehicle over. When you disconnected the battery and reconnected the terminal, you reconnected the circuit. Weird, but when the connection is loose and you try to draw all that current across a very small conducting surface, it burns off whatever small amount of condutor is there and you have an open circuit. Wiggle the battery connector and the lights come back on. I suggest wire brushing your battery posts and then applying some vaseline and reconnecting your terminals. You could also have a loose connection at your frame ground off the negative or at the starter solenoid. Check them all and you should be good to go.

Reply to
Jimmy the Hand

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