Rakavick

I have a 91 LX 5.0, I've replaced nearly every part there is trying to remedy my no start situation. I have power to the starter solenoid and barely get a crank when I jump the solenoid. Now when I try to start it all I get is a beeping noise from under the dash. I have no idea what else I can do to fix this!

08'MustangDude

Did you replace the starter?

Wires from the solenoid to the starter?

I had a boat, that would not crank right, it would crank, then get slower and
slower. I thought it was the battery. The motor just never seemed to crank
fast enough, and long enough.

Turns out, it was the wire from the battery to the starter. Was frayed, corroded,
and strands broken everywhere. Cut the wire back 1.5". crimped on another
connector to the battery and it was like a breath of new life into the motor.
That cranked at full speed now, and was much easier to start. Same thing
happens with car wires, they can get old, corrode... Had the boar TWO seaons
and ran one whole season with the bad wire. After the repair, never had issues
starting the motor. Also would not charge the battery with that bad wire...

You have to jump right to the starter to see where the problem is. If, you jump the battery
right to the starter, and it still does not crank? Then it's the starter, or the motor is bad,
could be seizing up, bad main bearing.

Urambo Tauro

I don't know what parts you've replaced, but before condemning anything, I would double-check power, under load. You say you've got "power" to the solenoid, but are you getting full battery voltage there? Does voltage drop severely under load?

wbrockstar

I agree with Urambo.You need to get a multimeter to run some tests.Touch the meter leads directly to the battery posts,key off,and measure battery voltage.A fully charged battery should have 12.6+ volts.If your reading is lower than this,you need to charge the battery on a trickle/slow charger overnight.If/Once your battery passes this test,check cranking voltage next.To do this,disconnect the wiring harness from the ignition coil,touch the meter leads to the battery posts and get your assistant to turn the key to the start position.If you don't have an assistant,use whatever means necessary to keep the meter leads on the battery posts and use a long screwdriver to jump both large posts on the solenoid at the fender (make 100% sure the trans is in park/neutral unless you feel like getting run over by your own car, because the nss/clutch safety switch is bypassed when you're jumping the solenoid instead of using the key) Measure voltage while the starter is turning/or trying to turn over.Voltage must read 9.6+ volts during crank/start mode.As ambient temp drops outdoors,the minimum voltage needed can drop slightly and still be considered adequate voltage.
TEMP/MINIMUM VOLTAGE NEEDED
70°/9.6
60°/9.5
50°/9.4
40°/9.3
30°/9.1
20°/8.9
10°/8.7
If your battery doesn't pass the test above,it doesn't have enough reserve capacity to power the starter and needs to be replaced.
If your battery passes the test above,check the battery ground circuit.To do this,touch
the positive meter lead to the battery cable ground at the engine block & touch the neg
meter lead to the neg battery post then jump the solenoid again to crank the starter.The meter should read somewhere between 0.1-0.3 volts.Any reading above 0.3 volts means you've got a bad ground connection or bad ground cable/wire.Youve got 3 main grounds.
1) primary ground= neg battery cable to engine block
2) secondary ground= flat ground strap between a lower intake studded bolt(rear) or the driver cylinder head(rear) and the driver firewall
3) eec ground= 10ga wire between the neg battery post & driver fender apron which splits off then leads to a black connector that plugs in to a mating connector attached to the end of the main engine harness.When these connectors are plugged together,they resemble an inline fuse holder.

You can also check for voltage drops by touching each meter lead between the two components youre testing for a drop.Example: touch the pos meter lead to the neg battery post & touch the neg meter lead to the neg battery cable terminal.The meter should read 0.2 volts max.If the reading is higher than this,the connection is loose or corroded.

When you check battery and starter cables, its important to not only check the cable ends/connections,but also the entire length of the cable.Why?? I had a starter that would crank just fine when the engine was cold,but once it got hot the starter wouldn't turn over for anything.I thought the starter was getting heat soaked & it was on its way out,but it wasnt.It turns out,a 6" length of insulation had been worn off the starter cable from laying against the oil pan for however long.
It was basically a big short to ground and since resistance increases with heat,the starter would turn over fine while the engine was cold,but went dead when hot.

It rarely happens,but if the bearing on one of your accessories is on its way out and beginning to bind/seize up,it could cause the starter to turn over slower than normal too.The easiest/quickest way to check this is to release tension on the serpentine belt,so the belt will be loose,then hand spin each accessory pulley to make sure they spin freely.Dont worry about spinning the crank pulley.If one is hard to spin,it could be the cause for the problem.