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car wont start

M

mackgeezy

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 19, 2007
Messages
60
Location
Racine , Wi
i have an mercury mystique .. its the 4 and its an 1998 ... and the thing wont start... i checked the fuel pump, put a new battery in ... new plugs and wires along with the block.. .. it cranks over and everything... does anybody have any suggestions . to check why it wont start and ways to fix this?
 
"...Along with the block"

do you mean the coil pack that the Spark plug wires attach too? Sounds like you didnt plug the wiring harness into the new ignition coil pack. Thats kinda important
 
yeah i meant the coil pack my bad.... and it wouldnt start before i changed that... and i re checked and it is indeed hooked up...
 
verify that you are actually getting fuel into the cylinders. just crank it for a little bit and you should smell unburnt fuel coming from the engine bay. verify you have spark with a spark tester, do this for all cylinders. lastly do a compression check.

if you have fuel spark and good compression the only other thing is the cam timing. you may want to remove the cam gear timing cover and verify that the belt is still in one piece. you cant verify the cams timing but you can determine if they are spinning at least.
 
i did the spark plug test ... in good order
i checked to see if the timing belt still good( teeth still on and looks in top shape) its good.. ill check to see if it spins ... theres no way to check the cam timing? hmm and as for the fuel pump all i checked was the fuel pump itself... so ill check to see if they are going into the cylinders and get back to you on that one... and ill check compression later on today


someone suggested to me that it could be the cam sensor or the crank sensor... could this cause the car not to start?
 
a bad sensor, or one that is unplugged/has bad wiring will cause a no start condition..
 
checking the cam timing is a little difficult on the zetecs. you have to use the cam timing tools (which you probably dont have).

Fords have this nice thing where if you have a bad cam or crank sensor it will start but only after 3 or 4 tries but it stays in limp mode. this allows you to be able to drive it up to the dealer to get the sensor replaced. however that doesnt mean its not a sensor. best to make sure you have the basics first, air/fuel, ignition, and compression.

after you have done the compression test check to make sure your cam and crank sensors are plugged in and the wiring is not cracked.
 
check these

check these

Some background on the issue would help isolate the problem.

Was the car running and quit on the road? Did the vehicle run then simply stop after sitting? Or was the vehicle sitting for a long time, accident, etc?

There are a few basics to check before tearing into the timing which may be causing this.

1- Lack of Fuel and/or fuel pressure.
Check the fuel cutoff switch for activation. (important if the car was in a collision.) Check the fuel pump relay and fuse. Check for a one second "hum" before cranking the engine during the ignition cycle for pump activity. It should pump briefly then stop. If there is no hum, the pump isn't running. Since you've checked the pump recently, ensure the wiring harness to the pump unit is securely reattached. Replace the inline fuel filter under the rear passenger wheel well as it may be clogged.

2 - Misrouted or Improperly Attached Plug Wires
Ensure the cylinder firing pattern on the coil pack matches the cylinder to which they are intended. Easily overlooked and can cause the engine to fire the wrong cylinders at the wrong time. In most cases the engine will sound like it may start or is backfiring due to the "wasted spark" design of the coil. Cylinder 1 is the leftmost cylinder next to the timing belt, followed by 2,3,4 in succession. Cylinder numbers will be marked on the coil.

3 - Timing Belt or tensioner Failure
Can happen if not serviced at reasonable mileage intervals. Spring tension can get loose and teeth on timing cams and can jump.
This is a time consuming process that you should consider after all else. Requires disassembly and removal of the valve cover to check TDC timing marks with an alignment tool. And, depending on the design, removal of engine crossmember subframe and drivebelt to attach a new timing belt. If spark is being generated it is likely the timing belt is okay. If a cam or crank sensor fails all spark is cut off by the ECU.

Since your vehicle is a 98 your engine computer may have a diagnostic code stored that can be retrieved without the engine running. Any OBD-II compliant reader can pull trouble codes and display them for you. These plug into a diagnostic port just under the dash on the driver's side. It may reveal a sensor or other issue preventing the car from operating.

hope this helps.
quincyicq
 
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Any CEL on, if so pull the code. A bad crank positon snesor will also cuase starting issues.
 
tools are no problem for me.. my father is a autotech , if he doesnt have the tool i can get it off my uncle whom owns a snapon truck... ill check the compression later on today



and check engine light isnt on


well this is what i know about the car... i got the car about 3 years ago... and it didnt work because the owner want it anymore (only thing that was wrong with it was a battery... i changed it and started right up) but i never had it registered then i got locked up and just was released around 6 months ago. this is when i put a brand new battery in it... the plug wires were cracked so i put new ones in... then it wouldnt start so i then put new plugs and pack in still wouldnt start ... i removed all the gas and put new gas in ... besides that i cant tell you a thing about the car becides its in good condition(becides not starting up) and has 114000 miles on it


the fuel pump cutoff switch is not engaged and i checked the fuel pump by putting a funnel in the gas cap and having some on put it into the on position and heard the hum so the fuel pump relay and fuse should be good then, right?
the plug wires are in order they are supposed to be.. and just rechecked that
 
i dont see an edit button on here.. so this is why i posted again.



about the check engine light... i cant tell if the light is on .. because it comes on when the car is turning over... and when i just leave it on the forward most place ... but i think thats normal


and if the compression is low what does that mean? that the engine is blown?
 
other things to check

other things to check

Did you replace the other parts besides the battery before or after trying to start the car?

If you say the car ran before with nothing but a new battery in the past, you should try putting the old parts back in and seeing if you have any faulty replacement parts (with the new battery). Original coil, original plugs, original wires, cracks or no cracks.

At the very least you should get a spark light and see if you're getting a spark to the cylinders with both sets of coils and wires - you have to be systematic and do this by elimination or you will be guessing all the time. Ensure the plugs are gapped correctly.

Here's a summary of things to look at and in what order.

1. Start by grabbing an OBDII scan tool and hook it up. Key on, engine off. Will give you codes if they are there.

Are there codes? Post them. They can say for sure where to look.

No Codes?
1. Ignore all air sensors for now. None of the air sensors will prevent a start. Limp mode will still allow the car to start provided actual air, fuel and spark exist. One thing you can try is to disconnect the MAF sensor and try a limp mode start on purpose - forcing the engine to use preset mappings. It might start this way.
2. The presence of spark eliminates timing issues and thus eliminates checking the timing. No spark means timing issues - because the cam and crank sensor must agree before spark is sent from the engine computer.
3. Fuel pump, relay and fuse are good if the pump cycles at startup. Since this is verified, you must check the fuel line (filter) for blockage and fuel pressure. Your system is likely returnless (one fuel line) and the pressure regulation is handled by the fuel pump - I believe there is a sending unit on the rail as well.
4. The injectors may have become clogged from sediment and sitting for a long time. A heavy duty injector cleaning treatment directly to the fuel rail by a garage or if they are available at a store is a good idea.


The water pumps in contours are weak and can fail - they have plastic blades that crack, shear and detach inside the motor, requiring head work. This is a possible answer to the low compression issue - unless the piston rings have washout and it burns oil.

Things to check for head gasket failure is water in the oilpan, frothy, oily coolant in the reservoir, and white smoke, a sweet burning smell, or blue smoke from the exhaust.
 
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i checked and i have spark, the timing belt moves... used the scan tool, and no codes showed .. checked and theres fuel coming to the engine bay
i did notice something though when i was checking the timing belt it turns but
the other belts dont even budge ... what could this be? is the engine blown?
i was thinking taht on the cam shaft that the keyway is missing and just allowing the gears to move but not actually moving anything else. could this be true? easy to fix? what do you guys think could have caused this
 
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