So I'm at college and my Maverick won't start. I bought a jump start kit but that didn't work, then i tried to jump it using my friends truck and that still didn't work. I need help!
In the cold like this, cars flood easy. Remove the air cleaner and manually hold the choke wide open and hold the throttle wide open while cranking. Keep your face away from the open carb, as they often backfire. Everyone is so used to fuel injection, few young guys know how to clear a flooded engine.
And if it is flooded, hold that throttle open long enough before trying it again so some of the gas will evaporate from the intake manifold
even check the other connections at the opposite ends of the cables at the block, starter and soliniod.
its the time of year were old battery cables are a PITA even my car that sits in the garage all of the time give me problems if I dont go out and start it and move it around to dry everything out. scrape your battery cable ends real good (inside) if you dont have one of those battery cleaners then scrape the battery posts them selves as well to make sure youre getting a good connection from the cable to the battery post. if that doesnt do the trick the strarter may have went out
Turns out it was the battery! Went to fleet farm and they said it was basically dead. So i bought a new one and she fired right up! Thanks for all the help!
take your battery cable off while the car is running to be sure its charging. or if you have a voltage meter stick it on the battery and it should read something over 12 volts like 13 or something like that. if it reads more than 12 volts when running then youre good to go no more problems for a long time. I never thought it but batteries do reach an end of life even if charged properly over the years
Your voltage meter should read around 14.2 volts with the engine running and the alternator properly charging
Clean terminals an replace the battery with more cranking amps. The cold you have up there is extreme . It will run a battery down fast. You should only crank the engine for 3 seconds at a time.
The guys on car talk said don't crank for longer than a 5 count and to wait for at least twice what you crank. The reasoning was sound. Cranking warms up the mechanical bits as well as the battery. And you have to let the battery cool off between cranking or you boil it and make it discharge much faster than you want it to, which is a serious issue in the cold because the battery is typically already weakened.
