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Have to disconnect and reconnect battery to start car.

Tiny
VHENNES
  • MEMBER
  • 2003 FORD FOCUS
  • 60,000 MILES
Our 2003 Ford Focus with a new, high quality battery from the Ford dealer is having starting problems. The car wouldn't start and was towed to a repair shop. The mechanics said all they did was remove and replace the battery cables. The car started several times and then would just click and wouldn't start. We disconnected and reconnected the battery and guess what - the car started. After 2 or 3 more starts, the car wouldn't start again. Once again we disconnected and reconnected the battery and the car started again. What would cause a starting problem which can be "solved" by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery?
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Saturday, August 27th, 2011 AT 9:23 AM

4 Replies

Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,885 POSTS
It sounds like you have bad battery cables, loose ground to engine block, loose connection to starter. If it starts when the terminals are moved, it sounds like something simple.
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Thursday, September 1st, 2011 AT 3:42 AM
Tiny
VHENNES
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
I should clarify. It doesn't start when the terminals are moved. Moving them around every which way makes no difference. It only starts if the battery is disconnected and reconnected. It seems that the power must be cut to the electrical system to get out of this failure mode.
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Thursday, September 1st, 2011 AT 4:58 AM
Tiny
J7076
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
I had a Ford that it was the inertia switch for the fuel delivery system. It was shorted so the car would think it had flipped over. So I replaced it and it has worked ever since. Inertia switch so if you wreck the car it would not keep pumping Fuel all over the place. The car would only start after clearing the PCM and/or ECU by disconnecting negative battery cable and pumping brakes/turn on and off headlight switch with the negative cable off and it would start. Difficult to the listen for your fuel pump when you turn the key to the points. No hum, no fuel.
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Tuesday, May 1st, 2018 AT 10:32 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 48,363 POSTS
So what fixed it?
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Friday, May 4th, 2018 AT 11:40 AM

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