I am buying another ranger which is a 1997 XLT 4wd with the 3.0 and automatic with just over 99 thousand original km. It needs tires and the guy said some times when he would go to start it it would just click, and you try it a few times and it starts great, and it started every time good for me, would i be right to assume that it would be just the solenoid acting up?? and i know its hard to say without seeing it, but let me know what u think.

 

Could be a bad power connection, ie: positive/negative battery cable, dirty batt terminal, corrosion in the cables, etc.

 

My old '97 used to do that to me all the time. It turned out to be the power wire at the starter... it was badly corroded and nearly falling off.

 

I'm wondering the same. My truck has been acting up recently and I'd like to know why. it just randomly clicks once when you turn they key, but after several attempts it starts no problem.

 

I had the same problem on mine, it was the battery clamps. Only thing I can figure is that after it clicked a few times the posts/clamps got warm and expanded making a better connection.

 

x2 IMHO…, try easy stuff first.
Clean the power connections and the battery connections.
Not sure but if there is a separate solenoid make sure the mounting is grounded to bare metal.

Another thing that help the starter… run a separate ground wire from the negative battery terminal to one of the starter mounting bolts, clean the area where the lug will mount and use some Dielectric Grease.

The extra ground cable will help for all electrical components, increases/improves the negative path.

 

well i have had the truck for 4 days, and it has started just like new every time, and its been snowing the last few days so i haven't even looked at it yet, this was just something that the guy i bought it from told me that sometimes it just clicks a few times, so i am not real concerned about it but i will defiantly take a look at the batter connections and cables when its a bit nicer out.

 

It's the solenoid. Mine conked out today and would only click, I put a jumper cable on either terminal of the solenoid and truck started no problem. They're cheap too only like 15$