Help me help my mom!

Help me help my mom!

Hey everybody! Quick question for you all. My mom's Explorer won't start so I'm trying to figure out the problem. First of all, when in the on/acc position all the accesories work. When you try to crank it you get one loud "click" and that's it. It sounds as if the starter motor is not turning the motor over. Does this sound like a bad starter motor or maybe a relay?

Thanks for helping me out. Oh, my mom says "Thanks!" too

that would be my guess.

a click? or click click click?

it happen to my '96 when it couldnt crank, just hear a stupid clickin sound. and turns out i was the starter thats gone bad.

Sounds like a battery problem to me. The battery probably is dead.

The battery works. All the accessories come on and function properly. Also, Ive tried to jump start it and I get the same thing.

The sound that I hear is a single click and not click click click.

Thanks for the replies though. Keep those ideas, and hopefully knowledge, flowing

sounds like a starter... ford starters are horable... kind of like their cars ... but yeah thats what it sounds like to me...

have someone crank it while you tap on the starter with a hammer. see if that starts it, if it does, replace your starter

I would have to say the starter also.

Try jumpstarting it anyway -- the starter probably pulls 300+ amps from the battery..a radio will work when the battery is almost dead.

If it doesn't jump, then it's probably the starter..you can try whacking it with a hammer; maybe it'll work at least once more

Like CadetLee said, I was having a similar problem with my Corolla a little ways back, there was enough juice in the battery for the radio, interior lights, etc... but the starter was drawing alot more amperage than my almost dead battery could push... jump started it, worked like a charm (until the next time I had to start it, lol)... always try the easy/free things first, jump starting is free if you can find jumper cables

yea, i agree with the majority.....the starter could be it....you might have a burnt out solenoid, in which case, you would have to replace it...

starter same exact problem i had... batt was good... try this, while you try and start it, have someone tap the starter and it would turn... that happened to my starter and thats how we found out the starter was the problem...

thanks again for all the replies. I went ahead and took the starter in to Autozone and it was indeed bad. Well, two hours of labor and a $4 dinner later, compliments of my mom, and the car starts right up. Gotta love that family discount Ai ya...

haha good to hear its runnin man