Trying to get a friends Tracker running after sitting for a couple of years. Always ran well and now won’t start. Here is what I know.

New battery and starter. 12.8 volts to starter and all fuses under hood. Intermittent operation of running gear varying from all accessories and lights working to relays just ticking to nothing at all. If there is power, it dies as soon as you turn the ignition. At most you can hear the starting solenoid click. Get 12.8 volts from positive terminal to any metal ground under the hood.

Started checking in the cabin. All fuses are good but only showing 2.8 volts at all terminals with ignition on. Starting to suspect a bad ignition switch.

Any insight is appreciated.

 

If you are seeing the voltage drop when engaging the ignition switch(key) that is more than likley the issue.You can jumper the starter to battery see if it cranks (use caution).

 

Less concerned with the starter cranking than the lack of power to the running gear. Voltage at the inside fuse box is 2.8 volts regardless of key in/out/position. I believe fuse 8 is for the ignition system and is hot all the time.

On a couple of occasions I got fully functioning lights/heater/radio. The intermittent nature leads me to believe it is a short in the ignition switch or there is a big *** mouse nest up under there I haven’t found yet.

Was hoping to find the best place to check the power feed entering the cabin. Also looking for any under dash relays that could be the culprit.

 

If no fuses are blown you are probably not looking for a short circuit.
Review Tracker fuses here
There is a Dropbox link to 2001 V6 fuse map.
You will notice there are two ignition fuses: one before the ignition switch and one after.
All the circuits before the ignition switch should have power with the key removed.
On my Tracker the battery voltage is 12.60 when parked.
The voltge at the battery drops to 12.35 when I switch on the headlights.

 

That is what I thought it should be. So it should be a process of checking voltage along the ignition circuit until I find the point of drop or pull all non-ignition fuses and see if I get power to the starter solenoid through the ignition switch then replace fuses until I find the circuit that causes the drop.

The fact that there should be full voltage at the fuse block before the ignition switch tells me it may not be the switch. If I can get at the ignition switch harness and unplug it, that would be easy to confirm.

Just thinking out loud at this point. Still have to figure out how much of the dash to open up to get to the incoming ignition circuit. Was hoping there was a known fusible link somewhere that causes power delivery issues.

Agreed that the lack of blown fuses likely rules out a short. Voltage drop points to a bad / weak connection. I get a strong ground to the motor. Is there a secondary ground I should be looking for inside the cabin? I should be able to confirm via tester from positive battery terminal to grounding points in cabin.

 

>> only showing 2.8 volts at all terminals with ignition on
Specifically, what terminals are you measuring from?
Are you saying 12 volts with ignition OFF and 2.8 volts with ignition ON?

What was the result of the headlight test?
With the key removed from the ignition, will the headlight switch illuminate the headlights?
Are they fully bright or are they very dim?
What is the battery voltage before and during the test?

 

Checked both sides of every interior fuse with ignition on. 2.8 volts on all of them. Ran tester from negative battery terminal to fuse. No lights or any other running gear. The most you get is a fast hazard relay click, key in ignition chime, and a click of the horn relay. All consistent with a low voltage condition. Same behavior with key on or off.

will try running a second ground to cabin to see if that resolves voltage drop. Then I would be fixing a poor ground, easy. If it doesn’t, I’m chasing a break in the positive power feed which is more involved.

I am still wondering if there is a fusible link at issue.

 

It might be a good idea to do a little voltage drop testing (Done under load) of the battery cables. (One strand of wire will give you a reading of 12 volts + but 0 volts (when under load).
You have the tool, just do a little reading/viewing on voltage drop testing and you will see how easy it is to pin down a poor connection or cable.
If the power can't get to the places where you are taking voltage measurements, you will get low readings.

 

I concur with hanky. Your symptoms have the hallmarks of a bad battery cable.


My positive battery anode has two battery cables. The larger cable feeds the starter exclusively.
The smaller cable feeds the fuse block under the hood and in turn the fuses under the dash.


The negative battery anode works the same way.


The problem could be in either cable.


The problem is likely to be corrosion where the terminal is crimped to the copper wire.


You can see "green crusties" starting to form on my copper.


The fault could be in the terminals on the far end of the cables but based on your reports that
the fuses and the starter are affected, I would assume the problem is at the battery connector.


If you don't have 12 volts at this screw, your positive battery cable is bad. Alternately, you should
read zero voltage drop with your red voltmeter lead on the positive battery anode and the black
lead on this screw head (with the headlights on).

 

jumped on to post a resolved message.

Got home. Tried a quick ground to cab. No dice. Started wiggling around the fuse box in for voltage drop under load. Headlights come on.

Had wife turn ignition while I poked around and it fired right up. Corrosion in the positive battery cable. Clipped ends and put terminal back on.

Troubleshoot 5 min
Fix 5 min
Get wife off the phone long enough to turn a key 10 min.

Then I read the previous posts pointing out how obvious the problem really was.

Been a while since I had to troubleshoot automotive electrical and can’t recall needing to do a voltage drop under load to find a problem in my life. Dumb luck I guess. Now I know a little more than yesterday.

In the end that’s what these forums are all about. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who chimed in.