one-time no-start?

[BerniniCaCO3]

This caught me off guard! Last thursday I drove out for my lunchbreak and got a burger. I get in my car to leave, crank it, and NOTHING.
More specifically,
all the dash lights are on as they should be. So the car is "on," and the battery is quite fine.
It's not like I hear the starter trying to crank over the engine and failing, also a sign of, weak battery, failing starter, or corroded cables between the two.
Just, nothing. I try to crank it a dozen times.

I need to get back to work!
So I pop the hood, find some scissors I had laying in the car, get out and jump across the starter solenoid with success.

After I park the car back at my job, I try again... car starts right up.
Started right up several more times after that, too.

Never happened before,
and hasn't happened since.
Just one time, trying to turn the key all the way a number of times in a row.

I guess, loose connection either in or from the ignition cylinder (and anywhere between the ignition and where the fusible link goes to the starter solenoid, whatever harnesses are in between), or an intermittently failing starter solenoid (which is really just a heavy duty relay, isn't it?)?
Which is most likely? Without a permanent fault, since it's working again now, how do I even begin to find out what had been the problem? (or maybe I can't, and have to wait for it to act up again).

Of course, our old-fashioned fender-mounted starter solenoids do mean that even if this happens again, it's never going to strand me! As long as I have scissors or a wrench or something conductive in the car

[1990LTD]

or an intermittently failing starter solenoid (which is really just a heavy duty relay, isn't it?)?


Of course, our old-fashioned fender-mounted starter solenoids do mean that even if this happens again, it's never going to strand me! As long as I have scissors or a wrench or something conductive in the car

It's your solenoid. Yeah, it's just a big relay.....they can (and do) shit the bed frequently.



I keep, at the very least, a screwdriver in the car at all times for just such occasions. Usually a few wrenches and a screwdriver with interchangeable bits just in case. Never know what crazy shit your old car is going to do to fuck with your day.

[BerniniCaCO3]

hah, and it's just 8 months old, from napa.
I only bought it because I accidentally stripped the threads on the ford original.

[gadget73]

see if the cables are loose or dirty at the starter end or at the relay. Usually the random click-nothing is dirty cables. If its not that, the relay is next up on the list.

When the relays start to fail frequently, its usually because the starter is no good. A good relay should give you about 10-15 years of service. A shitty one will give a couple years. A bad starter will smoke even a good relay in weeks or less. Usually they fail from bad starters by welding together and constantly cranking though.

[86VickyLX]

Sounds like S terminal wire connection loose on solenoid.

[84merc951]

i asked my dad as he is the original owner of my 84 if he has ever had any problems with the starter solenoid and he told me the hes never replaced it. he was telling me that thats when they made good parts which is true. so today i go to leave the house and go to start the 84 and click click click alot of times. what do you know the start solenoid clicking. weird how we where just talking about this and mine goes bad the next day.

[84merc951]

i went to the local autozone and picked up a new solenoid this one and it looks different than my original one . i put the new one on and nothing. just lights would come on and thats it. i know it looked different but the guy at the store said it doesnt matter and there all the same but i remember there being one for efi and carb cars.

[miamibob]

Not sure about the first one but I have used the second one, for years, with no issues. Then again, my car is an '87 GM so yours may be different. Which one did the original one look like? I'd get an exact replacement!

[gadget73]

They will interchange if you hook the wires up properly. Everything but the starter goes to one fat terminal, and just the starter goes to the other side. The red/blue (think its red/blue, maybe its red/green) goes to S, and whatever the other wire is goes to the I terminal. I'd still want the proper one though, just because it fits the mounting holes properly.

[84merc951]

mine is supposed to be the second one pictured but they sold me the first one that is pictured and said that it would work just fine. now when i go to put my old one back on just my lights turn on but my fuel pump and my regulaters dont switch on. is it possible the one they sold me could have messed my electrical system up. i found the second one pictured at napa for 20 bucks and is exactly like my original and is in stock

[bigbeigeboat]

do you have the heavy guage yellow wire and circuit breaker, blue and brown harness, heavy gauge green connected to BAT side of the soleniod? single black wire push-on connector to "I"?
EFI solenoids are diode suppressed so when the coil de-energizes it doesn't send a negative pulse to the ECM. the odds of this actually happening are debatable.

[89 Grand Marq]

I replaced mine with a cheap one, and I had to bring it back twice under warranty. I ended up buying a Ford one.

[gadget73]

actually every time you drop out a coil, it spikes. The ignition coil does it thousands of times per minute. Slightly different construction obviously, but same concept. It has to do with the collapsing magnetic field inducing a voltage in the coil of wire.

[bigbeigeboat]

oh, no doubt that the spike happens, just its debatable that that spike can will harm an ECM. Lots of EFI conversions have been done on older vehicles without upgrading. But its better to have the right part for piece of mind.

[84merc951]

do you have the heavy guage yellow wire and circuit breaker, blue and brown harness, heavy gauge green connected to BAT side of the soleniod? single black wire push-on connector to "I"?
EFI solenoids are diode suppressed so when the coil de-energizes it doesn't send a negative pulse to the ECM. the odds of this actually happening are debatable.

yes my original solenoid says on it diode suppressed. just mine doesnt have the circuit breaker but has all the rest that you have. its a 1984 mercury grand marquis 2 door ls with canadian model 5.0 cfi.