Vehicle won't start. Getting abnormal gauge activity. Possible cause?

10

Asked by sking41020 Mar 03, 2014 at 10:11 PM about the 2000 Ford Expedition XLT 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Vehicle started after numerous tries.  Battery & starter fine.  After getting it started, I
heard an unusual sound that appeared to be coming from the passenger headlight
area.  Drove it to run some errands.  During the drive it started beeping twice.  Probably
did not beep more than 5-10 seconds.  No dash indicators lights flashed nor came on
nor did any of the gauges have an abnormal reading.  When I returned home and shut
off the engine, the fuel gauge and other gauges did not immediately go back to their
normal inactive level.  They went back to the starting level in incremental decreases.  In
addition there was unusual noises coming from the steering column.  I restarted the
vehicle immediately with no problem.  However, when I turned the engine off again, I
could not get it restarted.  When I turned the engine off the second time I got the same
noises I had got the first time I turned it off.  After about 5 mins, I exited the vehicle and
the gauges had not yet returned to their inactive position (fuele gauge was still at 3/4
tank, oil was mid way, etc.). I have about 131,000 miles on the vehicle

1 Answer

10

The following day when I went out to try to figure out the problem I found that when I opened the hood I could hear a clicking noise and a humming sound like a an electric motor trying to cycle on and off. This is how we resolved the problem. I disconnected the battery. Waited several hours and reconnected the battery. Still would not start but was still making the clicking & humming noise. We then checked all fuses to make sure they were good. When pulling the fuses in the distribution box, we pulled the fuse to the alternator. This stopped the noises, we had to jump the vehicle to get it started, went to Advanced Auto and had the battery checked, battery fine. Since pulling the fuse and jumping the vehicle to get it started, I have not had any more electrical issues. As my late husband always said...start with the most simple things first.

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