Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Starter trouble?! HELP!!

Hi. I have a 95' 2.0 Contour. Today while driving home from the store I went to make a turn and the car just died. When tried to start again it makes a very ungodly screeching & grinding noise, almost as if the starter is only partially engaging. This may be the case, but yet why would the car have just died to begin with? Anyone have this happen to them before or have any ideas? Also, can anyone tell me where to locate the stupid starter in this car? We spent forever looking and could not find it or any diagram of its whereabouts in the Haynes Contour Manual Guide. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am very pregnant and baby could come any day now so we have to have the car working, and we can't afford some huge repair costs. (Certainly want to avoid dealership as they screw you big time!)

Anyhow, thanks in advance.

Rebekah (the_littleminx)

Welcome onboard.

Originally posted by the_littleminx:

---

.... I am very pregnant ....want to avoid dealership as they screw you big time

---

Presumably these were unrelated events.

Page 5-8, Fig 15.3 Haynes shows the starter as does page 4-12, Fig 48a. The general location is driver's end of engine at the rear (firewall) side.

LOL Okay, yep, I guess I didn't think that one through before I said it! (about being pg and then the dealership) *shakes head and laughs*

Anyhow, as it turns out it wasn't the starter. It was my timing belt. We don't know yet if replacing it is going to fix it or whether my engine is toast (hubby found some other posts on here that said 50% chance the replacement will correct everything and 50% chance the car is a giant paperweight now because the engine is shot). We will know by tonight.

Thanks for your welcome and response.

I think I read previous posts that stated that zetec was a 'non-interference' engine, meaning that the valves wont smack into the pistons if they're left open due to a timing belt mishap. Good luck with the car and baby!!

Yes, as it turns out that is correct. With the Zetec it is a "non-interference". Thank God!! And I am happy to announce that after the many many many strenuous hours of working on it, my car is seemingly fixed! Woohoo! Thanks so much for your advice all.