• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

PATS issue, IDK

RawBurt

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
3,968
Location
waiting to get banned
Took my car out for the first time this year. Did the battery relocation this weekend (dont know if that is related or not). I drive it earlier today with no issues until tonight. The car was idling and then just died out. Tried to start it back up and had all power and accesorries, but it did not crank, nothing. I noticed that the pats light was not flashing. Well i was realdy to get it towed when the pats light started flashing again and it started right up. Started driving home, came up to a redlight and it stalled out again. Same thing, no pats light. about 10 minutes went by, they started blinking again, started up and I made it home. I dont know much about the pats, so Im lost.
 
have you checked the battery, check you connections, checked that you are getting the proper charge on the battery when the car is running?

if PATs had disabled the car the led would rapidly fash for alittle then reset ... since it went out completely what was the rest of the car doing at that time?




but on a side note did you run your cable under the car or through the car and if so where did you go through the firewall?
 
The rest of the car would get power, so I cant see it being a battery issue. All accessories worked fine, the car just would'nt start, no crank no nothing.
 
How old is the battery? Probably should begin by rechecking your recent work. I have had a weak battery light the headlights/interior fine, but no crank.
 
Another vote for checking actual battery voltage. A weak battery, loose ground/positive connection can draw enough current to power the radio, lights, windows, etc all perfectly fine. However you start trying to draw max current through that tiny, thin connection point (since the metal is loose and barely touching) and you suffer. No crank. no attempt.. no anything...
 
The thing that is pointing me away from the battery is that the car stalls out for no reason. The pats lights go out. 10 or so minutes later, they start flashing again and the car starts up no problem. It just seems to me that there is something else going on. idk, ill check the bat.
 
Last edited:
well do remember that alot of people have discribe weird things when a battery is starting to go ... a cell or internal connection could be going and causing periods of low voltage ...


also you may want to "tin" all of your battery relocation connections ...
 
One more thing I'd like to add, when trying to start the car. When the key is turned forward I get 12 volts. But when I actually go to start it, the volts drop to zero.
 
One more thing I'd like to add, when trying to start the car. When the key is turned forward I get 12 volts. But when I actually go to start it, the volts drop to zero.

I take it that is on a voltage gage? mine does that also, if you note everything will turn off when you start the car ...
 
That is because of the excessive current draw needed to start the engine. Everything else drops out.. radio will reset, guages, etc..
 
The battery seems to be running at the correct voltage.

I took it for a quick drive today, when I drove over a speed bump type bump in the road, the pats light came on for about 3 seconds. I went over the bump again with the same results. Any ideas?
 
loose conection, recheck everything and tin your connections in the battery relocation kit ...

what do you mean the battery seems to be running the right voltage, what is it with the car off and what is it with the car running and off idle?


might as well check all of your grounds also, every one in the car ...
 
Last edited:
All the grounds I touched were cleaned and tightened. The only thing that could possibly be loose is one of the wires in a crimp. Which makes perfect sense. But it really doesnt explain the stalling/ no starting/ then restarting thing.

edit: I appreciate all the help BrApple
 
It just didnt make sense that it would die out, and then come back, ect ect. But what do I know.

I'll check all connections and crimps that I moved/ modified tonight and report back.
 
LOL

Well, I thought that the problem "worked itself out" because it did not happen in over a hundred miles of driving. But yesterday, I ran in the gas station and left it running, when I came out it was not, tried to start it with the same issue. So I got it home and started checking all the wiring. All the wires are tight, BUT when you move (i think the starter cable, I didn't verify though) one way, the pats lights go out and I got no start. When I moved it back the other way, the pats lights came back with perfect start. This was where the wire went into the distribution block.

When I looked into this at first, everything was tight, so I didn't think that a loose connection was the culprit. Its good to know that it was something simple, now I can refocus on the turbo :)
 
Back
Top