Ranger making clicking sounds but will not start, why? All interior and engine lights come on fine & truck will start with a jump but once turned off will not turn back on. Battery is new and has been checked as working fine.

Hello. My name is Mike,

Let me see if I can help you. When starting a car and you hear a click every time your try to start it, most the times it is only a couple issues to cause this. Number one and most common is the connection (wire) from the battery to the starter / solenoid is not getting a good connection which means, when you turn the key it is breaking the 12 volt circuit to trigger the solenoid which then triggers the starter to start the motor. Now, sense you say you have a good battery and you can start the car with jumping it, this tells me, it most likely is not the starter. In process of elimination there is only two things left where this problem lies.

Number one: Make sure the cable-wire (ground and positive) that goes from your battery down to your starter is clean and the connections on both ends are tight.

Number two: The second and only other place that normally would cause this based on your symptoms and the fact you can jump it, is the solenoid is not working correctly that is part of the starter. Most cases if this is the case, you would have to replace the starter.

I hope this helped you, and if you can rate my free advice accordingly, Thanks Mike from Fixya

Bad ground to the engine or Selinoid/starter is a very good possibility. Make sure the battery connections are good as well.