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

    You can register to join the community.

Car will not start...

D

Deweydw

CEG'er
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
355
Location
Deer Park, Tx.
Car will not start this morning. Everything seems to be in working order except the engine. Starter is working fine. It cranked o.k. yesterday. Just not getting a spark I guess. I think I'll start with the spark plug wires and plugs. Any other suggestions?
 
Spark, fuel pressure, or air.

One is missing.

Until you determine which is missing and why, randomly hanging parts on the car is unlikely to be sucessful.

Steve
 
Last edited:
Yes. Check if there is spark, if yes, then check fuel pressure (do you hear the fuel pump priming when the ignition is turned to on, if yes, may have to do a fuel pressure test.).

If you smell lots of gas fumes, you may have "flooded" the engine. And the engine cranks very fast. When that happens, you need to push the gas pedal all the way down. That shuts of the injectors and gives the cylinders a chance to fire up.
 
I won't be able to get to it until this afternon. Took the wife's car to work. It has always cranked on the first turn of the starter. I didn't listen for the fuel pump nor would I recognize what it sounds like. How would I know? Also, how do I check if I'm getting a spark? As you can see from my many posts, my car has issues. :eek:
 
There is something called a sp noid (maybe $15 or so) that you can pick up from Autozone or Advance, it will flash if there is spark or power to the sp or you can just have someone unplugged it from the engine and have someone crank it and see if there is spark in a darkened room. This is a little dangerous if you have lots of fumes in the engine area.

As for the sound of the pump priming, it sounds like a whirring sound which goes on for a few seconds. Make sure radio is off when you listen for this whirr. ;)
 
O.k.... I got the car started. Interesting though, I opened the hood and then cranked it. It turned a couple of times and I put the pedal to the floor like you had suggested and VROOM... However, the interesting part is that after it started, I noticed the accelerator cable was above were it should be. So when the hood was closed, it was resting on top of the cable. I thought that may have been it. But it would not have started yesterday. It was running rough and the lights blinked a couple of times. (waiting on the harness) I checked the spark plugs and they looked worn. So I changed out the plugs and wires. When I was disconnecting the negative cable, I noticed a breaker sitting on top of the battery. :shrug: I opened the breaker box and could not figure out where it came from. Thinking the tech may have changed out the breaker for the a/c and left the old one there, when I had the a/c fixed Monday. I did notice that one breaker was not plugged in all the way. Pushed it down, completed the work and put everything back together. Started the car and it ran very rough. Let off the gas and it stalled. Got it started again and kept the rpm around 2k. Let off the gas and it stayed on still running a bit rough. But here's the kicker... Turned on the a/c... no cool air. :crazy: So I'm not sure what to think now. Any idea's?
 
Deweydw said:
... I noticed a breaker sitting on top of the battery. :shrug: I opened the breaker box and could not figure out where it came from. Thinking the tech may have changed out the breaker for the a/c and left the old one there, when I had the a/c fixed Monday. I did notice that one breaker was not plugged in all the way. Pushed it down, completed the work and put everything back together. .... But here's the kicker... Turned on the a/c... no cool air. :crazy: So I'm not sure what to think now. Any idea's?
Click to expand...

Take it back to the mechanic and tell him the a/c is not working.
 
After calming down and sleeping on it. I think I'll wait until I get the wiring harness in. There are so many wire's that are exposed, I may have a short some where. When ever I move a wire, more insulation comes off. Thanks for the advise, though. If the a/c still doesn't work, then I'll take it back. I just gotta be patient.
 
I got the harnesses in. Well, all except one. Installed the fan control, fuel charge, and positive battery. Got everything back together, inserted key. Turned key and lights on dash and in the car came on. Heard the fuel pump. Turned key all the way..... Nothing. Absolutly nothing. Not a click or anything. I'm wondering if maybe it may be a fuse. Since I had to take the fuse box apart. Any idea's? It took most of the day. Started around 8:00 a.m. and finished around 4:30 p.m. Whew!!!
 
I have the same problem as your last post. I found that if I wiggle the 2 red wires that go to the power distribution box enough it will eventually start right up. I stalled out in the taco bell drive through the other night and some guy in a cadillac was like "get that foreign pice of ****e out of my way!" My friend that was with me was like "It's a Ford!" the guy says "I don't care it's still a foreign piece of ****e!" So my friend replies "Don't make me f**k you up old man!" anyway got it started. Yesterday i take the power distro box apart and damn! what a rats nest in there. wires all over the place.. I re stripped all the wires connected to my battery terminal and took off the big red wire at the distro box and wire brushed the connector. Put everything back together and haven't had any problem since. Maybe you have corrosion up in the connection?... I hope that's what my problem was... It's hard to impress the ladies when your car keeps shutting off...
 
I found the problem. A wire I installed in the fuse box popped loose. reinstalled it. Car starts fine. New problem... Took the car for a test drive and the cooling fan will not come on.
 
Radiator... I had replaced the fan control harness. And now the cooling fan for the radiator is not working. That is one of the connections for the fan control harness.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top