Explorer Circuit Breaker
 

I have a 95 Explorer with the one and only 4.0L engine
offered that year. When I start the car I get a momentary
grinding noise which I am sure is the starter gear not
retracting quickly enough. So I need a new starter. Last
night as I turned the ignition it cranked for a second and
then everything died. No lights, no radio, no nothing, as
if the battery had suddenly been disconnected. My first
thought was a current overload on the starter that popped
a fuse. However, I wasn't sure what fuse would cause
everything to lose power. Anyways I did a quick check
of the fuses and found none visibly blown. I then
disconnected the battery and did a quick voltmeter reading -
12.8V, OK. I then reconnected the battery and was surprised
when the underhood light illuminated. The vehicle is working
fine at the moment.
My question. Is there some type of circuit breaker
mechanism that would explain what happened? Either by
waiting long enough or by disconnecting the battery it
seemed to fix itself. This has never happend before in the
eleven years I've had this car. I understand I probably
need to change out the starter, but I'm not sure why things
died and then fixed themselves. I'm curious.
Mark

Explorer Circuit Breaker
 

"Mark Barrett" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 95 Explorer with the one and only 4.0L engine
> offered that year. When I start the car I get a momentary
> grinding noise which I am sure is the starter gear not
> retracting quickly enough. So I need a new starter. Last
> night as I turned the ignition it cranked for a second and
> then everything died. No lights, no radio, no nothing, as
> if the battery had suddenly been disconnected. My first
> thought was a current overload on the starter that popped
> a fuse. However, I wasn't sure what fuse would cause
> everything to lose power. Anyways I did a quick check
> of the fuses and found none visibly blown. I then
> disconnected the battery and did a quick voltmeter reading -
> 12.8V, OK. I then reconnected the battery and was surprised
> when the underhood light illuminated. The vehicle is working
> fine at the moment.
> My question. Is there some type of circuit breaker
> mechanism that would explain what happened? Either by
> waiting long enough or by disconnecting the battery it
> seemed to fix itself. This has never happend before in the
> eleven years I've had this car. I understand I probably
> need to change out the starter, but I'm not sure why things
> died and then fixed themselves. I'm curious.
> Mark
>

I'm just guessing but maybe the starter motor is so bad it was shorting out
the battery causing a loss of power to everything. From what you said it
would have to have been stuck in that position and then released somehow.
Maybe a stuck selenoid along with a bad starter? I've seen starters do
weird things.

I don't *think* there is any autoreset circuit breaker that would do this,
at least not in an early Explorer.

Explorer Circuit Breaker
 

Mark Barrett wrote:
> I have a 95 Explorer with the one and only 4.0L engine
> offered that year. When I start the car I get a momentary
> grinding noise which I am sure is the starter gear not
> retracting quickly enough. So I need a new starter. Last
> night as I turned the ignition it cranked for a second and
> then everything died. No lights, no radio, no nothing, as
> if the battery had suddenly been disconnected. My first
> thought was a current overload on the starter that popped
> a fuse. However, I wasn't sure what fuse would cause
> everything to lose power. Anyways I did a quick check
> of the fuses and found none visibly blown. I then
> disconnected the battery and did a quick voltmeter reading -
> 12.8V, OK. I then reconnected the battery and was surprised
> when the underhood light illuminated. The vehicle is working
> fine at the moment.
> My question. Is there some type of circuit breaker
> mechanism that would explain what happened? Either by
> waiting long enough or by disconnecting the battery it
> seemed to fix itself. This has never happend before in the
> eleven years I've had this car. I understand I probably
> need to change out the starter, but I'm not sure why things
> died and then fixed themselves. I'm curious.
> Mark

Your vehicle does not have any CB which shuts down the whole vehicle.
I've had this problem happen to me numerous times on other vehicles.
You had a loose battery connection. The starter sucks a ton of juice
when you turn the vehicle over. When you disconnected the battery and
reconnected the terminal, you reconnected the circuit. Weird, but when
the connection is loose and you try to draw all that current across a
very small conducting surface, it burns off whatever small amount of
condutor is there and you have an open circuit. Wiggle the battery
connector and the lights come back on. I suggest wire brushing your
battery posts and then applying some vaseline and reconnecting your
terminals. You could also have a loose connection at your frame ground
off the negative or at the starter solenoid. Check them all and you
should be good to go.