travis200270

Hello, I have a 2005 Ford Focus ZX4 that is giving me electrical problems.
My lady took it out of town a few weeks ago and claimed it stalled on her and the radio had kept resetting itself. Worried that something would happen on her trip home I went to pick it up. It started fine and didn't give me any problems getting home though I did notice twice that the very top illumination bulb of the dashboard above the speedometer was not lit but later after a few minutes of driving it lit up. Being I rarely use the car it has sat up for about 3 weeks only using it about once or twice a week. During that period it ran fine although the radio would still reset itself and every now and then the solenoid would click and the motor would not turn over on the first crank, but would crank the second time. Being I'll be needing the car soon I figured it's time to fix it. Now it will not start at all but the solenoid clicks and the radio and lights totally lose power when attempting to start it. Both Walmart and Advanced Auto tested the battery and said it was a little low but good. The test stated it was at 551/590 cca and 12.35 volts. I took the battery home and charged it for about 2 hours on a 10 amp charge bringing it to 14.x volts then tested again. The same thing is happening solenoid clicking lights dim when starter is engaged and engine does not turn over. My question is what should be the next few things to test? I'm almost thinking its just the starter but that does not explain the radio resetting but maybe the bad solenoid draws all the amperage and the radio looses connection? I didn't really notice if it reset only while trying to crank or while it was actually running but I know currently when I attempt to engage the starter everything else looses power. Any suggestions are appreciated and if there are any questions please ask. Thanks!

travis200270

After 30 minutes of sitting from the last attempted to start it; it started up fine 10 times in a row. I turned the radio, head lights, and AC to max to see if it would start with everything under full load and it started every time. The interior lights did dim very little while it was cranking but im sure thats to be expected. Nothing lost power though. What can it be?

Bert

See what the volts show when the solenoid just clicks. You also may have a connection problem. Ground or positive.

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Bert

R.S.LOGAN

Just to add to Berts suggestion , could be a " lazy " starter as you mentioned taking to much of a draw / load from battery . Take it they load tested battery to show up any possible weak cells rather than just take a Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) reading ?