My car died while driving home last night. Need help identifying the problem in my 2006 ford ranger 4x4 v6 4.0L.



Story goes. I was coming to a stop and my dash warning lights came on for a second then off (I don’t remember if it was all or just some of them). And then the engine cut out.

My dashboard back light, headlights, radio/the accessory power was still working. But the car wouldn’t turn over.

I tried jumping the car to no avail.

I took the battery (5 years old from the dealership) to oreillys & had it tested. Battery had a charge (from jumping it??) but the tester read bad battery.

Changed the battery and the car still won’t turn over. With the new battery the car would try to turn over a-little more than before changing the battery but hardly at all. it would give me one “chug” sound then quit. Not a clicking sound.

I was thinking it’s alternator. But shouldn’t the car turn over & run for a little while if I replaced the battery even if the alternator is dead?

Some old forum posts said something about it possibly the starter. Which makes sense to me about the car not turning over, but I don’t understand how that would make the car shut off while driving

Fuel filter & pump was replaced about 2 years ago. So I don’t believe it’s a fuel issue.



There was a massive amount of rain all day. I don’t believe the parking lot flooded. But there’s a possibility that water may be a factor to consider.

 

I’ve had almost the same issue. I was parked and idling letting the truck warm up a few minutes, was fine for a couple minutes when suddenly what seemed like all the dash lights popped on a few seconds and the truck died, may have also been rainy that day, I know for sure it was kinda cold out. However, I just attempted to restart the truck about a minute after sitting there confused, and it started up fine and ran fine the rest of my day. Mind you, this was probably about a month ago. Low and behold today I’m underneath the truck for other things and find that the power wire for my starter is missing the nut to hold it!! It was still hanging on the stud, but was definitely loose, and I’m wondering if that’s what caused my issue that day. Sorry for the long story but I’d say check your starter just to be safe, you can even remove it and bring to an Oreilly store for free testing. I feel as though your truck should’ve started and maybe your starter came loose as well or just decided it’s time to die, but what gets me is that it just gave you one chug… possibility something else could be going on unless the motor is in good shape

 

Sounds like the starter for my two cents. Can you have someone try starting the truck while you tap the starter. Could be a dead spot. Or maybe even the solenoid is bad.

 

My truck also stalls out when it's been raining for a full day. It starts up fine but then the second you put it in drive it'll stall out. Works fine the rest of the time but every time it rains all day it just won't run.

 

Have you tried starting in neutral? My 2000 XLT 3.0 V6 wouldn’t start after a quick stop at the Home Depot. I went right back to Home Depot and bought a lithium ion starter. It didn’t start the truck. I stopped to think a bit and put it in neutral and it started right up. I shut it down and put it in park and it started right up. I had to pushes the shifter a bit more and it started again. So I’m going to look into possible shifter adjustments.