hi guys, just went out to go up the street and out of the blue.....no go, dash lights up properly can hear the fuel pump winding over then when you turn the key it just "ticks" rapidly but no wind over?? starter motor?? do these just stop out of the blue? and if something has drained the battery or something its only just happened i havent done anything different than usual,drove it this morning(twice), ive no idea??

yes they can - give starter a hit with a hammer and retry starting - if it starts you need a starter - hit firm but not to hard dont hit where cables connect

tried the hammer thing, but when i tried to start it it did the same thing this time but as well as "ticking" rapidly i lost dashlights?? no fuel temp or odo reading? smartlock still flashing, so now it wont even tick over?? ive checked the fuses but cant find any blown or anything?? im going to get another starter i know works, but now i dont know about the "dash" problem, bloody glad this happened in my driveway and not on a backraod somwhere!! any help on this subject would be appreciated thankyou

was smartlock flashing before when car wouldn't start? [before dash started playing up]

yeah everything was fine until i tried to start it after tapping the starter, i tried starting the vehicle 4 times before tapping so 5 times all up,its like a fuse but i've checked them all( gonna go do it again now for peace of mind) then off to the ol' mans to raid his ef(cracked head but ran a1 beforehand) so his starter and fuses/relays should be fine yeah? ef/el starters same? im confident on changing these parts over but the dash going dead then absoluteley nothing(except a faint smartlock flashing) this has got me worried

does the battery still have charge?


ie has it gone flat?

It's entirely possible you've done an alternator too and drove the car without the battery charging... Then you've pulled up and it's not got the go to wind it over... A clicking starter is usually a sign of a flat battery... When the pole out you generally get nothing and everything goes dim (it's like they turn into a short circuit)...

They're a b**ch to change at the best of times... Take to 2 secs to try jump starting it and rule out the battery (or get you multimeter out and check the battery voltage just standing and under crank)...

Cheers,
Tim

just had a m8 come around, i put the battery out his 4wd in it... fired straight up, so i take it this means either faulty battery or alternator not charging? has the usual ford problem where the power steering hose leaks a little bit onto the alternator but i either havnt noticed or it has never caused a problem, i mite try recharge the battery and if it goes flat again that means alt not charging yeah? and if thats the case does that mean that its rooted??

check battery voltage with multimeter (on dc 20v scale or higher)
approx.12volts standing - minimum 9.5volts when cranking

start with your mates battery/jump start and check charging - 13.5v-14.5v -can take a little while to rise to upper reading,but should read above reading you had before you started engine.....if not replace alternator and charge battery-

if your battery has caps remove and watch for gassing/heavy bubbling from cells while someone tries to crank over which would indicate a faulty battery as does sulphur (rotten egg gas) smell .........

unlikely given you had just been driving before it played up but may have current draw -eg.boot light staying on or similar-battery will drain and if you do get started and only drive short distance will not have enough power when you next try to start