After a cold night when I turn the ignition on only the airbag (blinking) and the battery (steady) icons come on.
No cranking - nothing…
After a few anxious tries the full set of icons come on and the car starts.
No problems during the day.
The battery is one year old.
The 2007 Ranger (3L engine) has 180,000miles.
I’ve tried my spare ignition key - no difference.
Is this a PAS issue or a sticking relay?..
Thank you!
Do you have an automatic transmission? If this happens again…shift to neutral and try starting. If it fires right up then you have a bad (intermittent) neutral safety switch. This problem is as common as dirt.
No I have a manual transmission and it only happens in the morning when the car has been out in the cold. Thanks for the reply.
Good idea to check the safety switch. If that’s a no-go, it’s possible the cranking attempts are warming up the battery (or something else) enough that eventually it has enough power to crank and start the car. Suggest to have your battery load tested and at the same time have the connections cleaned and securely tightened. It could be something else, like the security system or relay on the fritz, but that’s a good place to start.
A manual will still have a safety switch that will prevent the engine from starting unless the clutch pedal is compressed (clutch disengaged) or the tranny in neutral. That is a possibility.
But IMHO bigger suspects are the starter motor assembly (flakey bendix assembly) or an intermittent (corroded or loose) battery cable connection.