2014 Escape SE 1.6L, 135,000 miles bought it new. In the last month it has failed to start without a jump several times. No clicking no trying to turn over. Just had it in to Ford service at Paul Miller Ford in Lexington Ky. They said Battery, starter, and alternator all are good and they could find not issues. All connections appear to be clean and tight. Any suggestions?

 

If it starts fine with a jump every time, then what changes when we jump the battery?

When we add addl power to the starting system with the addl battery what is happening?
Between the battery and the starter motor are ,: the battery cables, the connections where the cables are connected to the vehicle ,the starter relay , and the starter motor itself. If there is high enough resistance at any one of those places, the result is a voltage drop and the best way to find that is to do voltage drop testing under load
(with a driver attempting to start the engine.)
If there is a high resistance problem, the voltage drop test will reveal it.
We don't know if the dealer tech bothered to do the correct tests.

 

When the engine does not crank, do the headlights come on? Do they dim when you attempt to start the engine? Since the engine starts with a jump, For now you can eliminate the high current cabling and connections from the battery to the starter. I am assuming you had the battery tested under load and ACTUALLY cleaned the battery connections not just looked at them. Batteries usually do not behave in this intermittent manner without some kind of clicking / chattering noise being audible.Visually looking at connections means nothing. When the engine fails to crank, you could try working the gear shift and then try cranking the engine in park or neutral. Some things to look at include the ignition switch, its wiring, the neutral safety switch, its wiring, the starter solenoid which is mounted piggy back on the starter and the wiring down to it for actuation. In short, the circuit and wiring between the ignition switch and the starter solenoid.