I have a 2000 Ranger 3.0 v6 with an automatic transmission. When I try to start it, it just clicks. The battery is good and fully charged. If I hook up jumper cables from my other truck plus my little battery booster it will start right up and run fine.

Thanks for any help

 

I see this regularly... most common causes

Loose battery clamp
Corrosion between the battery terminal and clamp
Bad battery (charge =/= capacity)
Bad starter/fender solenoid
Aftermarket security system

 

Yes, battery cables, and then battery cables, and then battery cables, those are the FIRST 3 things you check
And the 4th thing is.............wait for it........................yes, battery cables again, check them

Starter motor need 50 amps to turn engine over, thats 50amps passing thru Positive Cable to starter to Engine block to Negative battery cable

Its called a "circuit" because the AMPs must flow in a complete "circuit", if you remove the positive OR negative there is NO circuit

Many check the Positive cable very closely, but ignore the Negative, each one must pass the same 50amps or................click
Check Negative cable

Battery is good?
Car battery's have 12.3 to 12.8volts when they are good, is that what you have
12.2volts or less is a bad battery, no AMPs left


And yes starter motors can fail and not work at all or need 150 AMPs to turn engine, so battery alone can't do it

 

Oh almost forgot, Ford used a spade connector to the starter's solenoid on some years. It fails. New/Reman starters have a bolted on lead with a retrofit pigtail.

Check your starter and see if you have a spade... if you do see if it wiggles. If it wiggles freely pinch the spade closed and reattach. If it's ate up, replace starter.

 

So I cleaned up my terminals and made sure the connections were good. Now it will turn over when I try to start it but won't start

 

Make sure it's not flooded. Hold the gas pedal to the floor and crank it for about 10 seconds... then try and start normally.

 

Still not starting, the theft light is blinking fast when it's trying to start.

 

Fast flashing THEFT light with key on means the PATS(passive anti-theft system) has turned off fuel injectors and fuel pump, because it didn't "read" correct Key ID number from key in the ignition

Disconnect either battery terminal, then turn on head light switch, this will drain the capacitors in all the modules memories
Turn off head light switch, after 10 seconds and reconnect battery

See if THEFT light now comes on and then goes off, if so try to start

If you try to start the engine 3 or 4 times with flashing theft light the PATS will go to lock down and won't allow starting for 30-40 minutes even with correct Key
Draining power resets PATS module

There is an antenna around the key slot on the column, called the Transceiver, when you turn on the key the PATS module(above glove box in 2000) sends a radio signal out that antenna which gives the "PATS Key" enough power to transmit its unique ID code
The antenna picks that up and sends it to PATS module, PATS module was programmed with 3 or 4 numbers at the factory, the PATS keys that came with new vehicle
PATS Module compares the key number it just received to the numbers in memory
If a match is found PATS module sends an "OK to start" message to the PCM(engine computer) and PCM turns on fuel pump and injectors
If no match is found or no Key number comes in then no message is sent and PCM doesn't turn on fuel pump or injectors
This all takes less than 1 second


There are fault codes for PATS
If the reset doesn't work then let the THEFT light flash, after 60 seconds or so it will start to flash 2 digit code or codes on why the PATS didn't send the message to PCM

Code flashes:
1:1 Transceiver not connected

1:2 Transceiver internal fault

1:3 Key code not received. Is key screened by other keys or objects? Try different key:

1:4 Partial code only received. Try again.

1:5 Key not programmed into PATS.

1:6 Faulty link between PATS module and EECV

If you have an OBD reader PATS codes can also be seen using it to read BODY codes, they start with B, engine/trans codes start with P for power train

 

Check terminals !! I had a similar issue but no crank at all, which happened in the time span of an hour, the corrosion can just sneak up sometimes. Make absolutely sure that all the contacts are clean. I unfortunately paid a shop $100 for this because I couldn’t figure it out in the first place, my anti theft was blinking too