This evening, I came to my 04 Sport Trac to go home. For the first time, the starter cranked slow, but engine did fire up. After it fire up, there was clicking sounds. The needle on the gauges were bouncing around, the cluster light was flickering. That last a few seconds till it cleared up. Then things ran normal. My resettable mileage counter went to zero. I drove home no problem. What would cause that?
Slow crank, but fired up
- Thread starter NH73
- Start date
Your battery is very close to being dead. Get it checked ASAP. It is about to leave you with a vehicle that will not start. Be ready to buy a new battery when you go to get it checked because there is a 90 % chance they will tell you it is shot.
NH73, you post your location as Pa, USA. If you are near Pittsburgh, there is a shop called Edd's Generator that has a very good battery checker that they can select the amount of current to load your battery down with according to its size, and load it with the correct amount of current to really properly check it.
If you are not near Pittsburgh, then go to an Advance Auto Parts store. Most of those stores will check a battery in the vehicle for free.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
Battery is on its last legs.
I am assuming you did not leave your lights on or the dome light on.
I did that once in my echo, car barely ran, but sprang to life. Drove home 27 miles and never had another problem.
I did that once in my echo, car barely ran, but sprang to life. Drove home 27 miles and never had another problem.
I don't know about Fords but GM's at one point the ECU would shut off if battery voltage got too low. For sure have it checked out.
I checked that. It was off. Couldn't think of anything else that could of been left on.
Extremely low battery voltage or poor connections.
It's time to replace the battery.
One winter day I went to start my truck. I think I drove it the day before? Probably did. Anyhow. Dead battery, like 9V dead. Gave it a jump, took it out for a drive, used it normally for another 3 or so years. No idea what happened, no doors were open (it's late model and it would have turned off the lights anyhow), it just drained overnight. I thought for sure I killed the old battery but it carried on.
If this was the original battery I'd give serious thought to replacing. If it was only a couple years old, it could still be a battery on its last leg. But I'd wait for it to die once or twice more (and to be prepared for that). Maybe you'll get lucky and it was a fluke.
If this was the original battery I'd give serious thought to replacing. If it was only a couple years old, it could still be a battery on its last leg. But I'd wait for it to die once or twice more (and to be prepared for that). Maybe you'll get lucky and it was a fluke.
if you can afford that the vehicle won't start when you want it to, see what happens in the next few day, but things like the resettable mileage counter, radio station memory, clock resetting etc can all be symptoms of voltage dropping too far during starting
The slow start is exactly what my '05 Sport Trac did before it fully died in the Target parking lot 15 minutes later. Years later, the alternator went out on the highway, and when the battery became almost fully discharged, the gauges went crazy (the other sign that death is near) and I found myself sitting on the side of the road. Go get a new battery, charge it up with a charger, and install it.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
How old is the battery
How often do you drive each day?
Clean the battery posts, Check connections and battery condition.
How often do you drive each day?
Clean the battery posts, Check connections and battery condition.
^This. Without knowing the age of the battery, it's just a guess as to what the problem is. Five years old, sure it's more likely the battery. Less than five, corrosion on the terminals or ground points.
My wife's 02 Deville has done this a couple times, once a couple years ago and then again a few months ago. Both times I put my Ctek on it and all is well. There must be something intermittent going on that drains the battery.
I thinks it worth at least trying to charge it and go from there, never know you may get years of service out of it.
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If someone could show me a 2004 with original battery, I love to see it.
You didn't state, so it had to be asked. I just replaced the 10 year old original in my Tundra this fall--it still worked, just thought it was time. What with the pandemic I probably could have just pulled it out, stored indoors (so as to stay warm--for better starting) and it'd probably have eeked out another year or more.
I'm sure they are out there--maybe in a junkyard or on cinderblocks though!
