About a week ago, my wife's Excursion started acting up. Out of the blue, it would not start. At first I thought it was the batteries, but have since ruled that out. It did not start two times in a row. When she would start, the solenoid would not even click even though lights, radio, everything else ran at full. I had her charge the batteries just to make sure, but no difference. Then it got better all by it itself. Today it did it again. At this point I'm thinking either bad starter or bad ignition switch.

Would the starter/solenoid that be going bad be intermittent? BTW, the truck has 190K miles on it w/ the original starter. How difficult is it to replace the ignition switch?

 

When you go to start it, when it doesn't start that is, what happens when you turn the key to start? Do you hear a click behind the dash? or does it just do nothing at all? How did you rule out the batteries? Have you checked the voltage on them? I know you need at least 11.5 to fire the injectors off. You can try bridging from one large post to the other large post on the starter solenoid using a large screw driver, (like the 1' long ones that have a nice size handle), with the key set at "run". This will bypass the solenoid I believe and if it starts then you can replace the solenoid and that should fix it. If it doesn't start then it's most likely the starter. I had similar issues last year with my mom's 01 Excursion.

 

Check the S wire on the starter, they have a habit of coming loose within the fitting that connects them to the starter terminal. Causes an intermittent no start.

 

Trust me, it's not the batteries. I checked them (had a load put on them), charged them up anyway, and then even tried jumping jump starting. When I try to start & it does not start then it does nothing at all. No solenoid click or anything.

 

How do I get to this S wire? Is it inside the solenoid housing?

 

I think he is referring to the wire that pulls in the solenoid on the starter. The solenoid engages the starter motor. There is only (2) wires going to it, a big red one and a little red one. The little red one pulls in the solenoid and the big red one runs the big electric motor. The grounding is thru the motor. You should also check the ground from motor to frame. It's been a while since I have been under a vehicle but can't imagine anything has changed.

 

Hey Mark,
When you say it won't start, will it crank fine but not fire? If it cranks, check your glow plug relay. My truck would start with a glow plug or two not working, but if the relay quits, the truck would crank till the batterys went dead but wouldn't start.

If it won't crank, you likely have a bad starter, starter solenoid or wiring issue. I'd check the starter solenoid first.

 

the s wire is the smaller wire to the solenoid on the starter, held on by a screw terminal, using a 5/16" hex nut.

What I have seen a lot of, is the wire works its way out of the crimp, but stays inside the shrink tube, so you cannot actually see the problem. on an 01, SD style, you can actually reach in through the inner fender with a mirror, and see the offending wire end. Wiggle it a bit, and see what happens, if it starts with the key, then replace that wire end.

Just like that.

 

Any resolution to this problem?

 

cummins swap??