1999 Contour SE Will Not Start

[Infamous Ob]

Hey,

I have a 1999 Contour SE with a 2.5L V6 DOHC, 138,000 Miles, Automatic Transmission and it was running. Thursday morning I was on my way to work and the Oil Light was flickering on/off as the vehicle sat idle at traffic lights. I pulled into a gas station and checked my Oil Levels and everything was good. I also added (1) quart of Oil just for the heck of it. I made it almost to work and as I came over a hill, the car lost all power and shut off. I sat on the side of the road and the motor was practically started but no fuel was flowing. I had a Full Tank of gas in the vehicle as well. So my theory is the Oil Pressure is low and the Fuel Shut-Off Switch activated somehow. Any input, thoughts and ideas are welcome.

-Orson

 

[gorman]

Hi Orson; after you have been trying to start the motor .... take one of the spark plugs out and see if it is wet with gas. Take the spark plug and check you have a spark.


When the motor was idling and the oil light was flickering, was the idle uneven or lumpy ? .....G.

 

[BrApple]

OK, first if I understand correctly the engine is now over full by a quart of oil? Check the level again and make sure it isn't to full.

Next can you hear the fuel pump prime when the ignition is turned on?

The low oil pressure light is just a light, it does not do anything else. Also the fuel cut off normally doesn't just cut out. That is an easy one to check.

How was the car running before it died?

 

[gorman]

The low oil pressure light is just a light, it does not do anything else.

Hey Brian; sometimes if your idle is rough, the oil light can flicker as the motor struggles to rotate smoothly. Agreed, low oil pressure doesn't trip the fuel pump .... although it would be trick for a track day car.......G.

 

[BrApple]

I have never heard of anyone having the oil light flicker with a rough idle. Most often flickering at idle is a bad sensor. But hey, anything is possible.

 

[amc49]

'I have never heard of anyone having the oil light flicker with a rough idle.'

If the rough idle is also accompanied by what most of them are, or a lower speed as well, then absolutely it can flicker the oil light, depending on engine condition which can affect that somewhat. Rough idle on these cars can get down below 500 rpm and below that they will try to flicker the light sometimes. I've seen all types and marques of car do that, shows up worse the lower the number of cylinders engine has, the bigger ones even that lumpiness out somewhat by virtue of more inertia keeping engine speed a little more constant.

You have to strike something with the car like a curb or other to trip the fuel shutoff INERTIA switch-although I've seen working on car with a hammer whacking something trip them before. It takes an impact shock of some sort to trigger it.

At 138K could easily be something totally unrelated to oil light or fuel pump but you MUST hear that fuel pump whine for two seconds when key is turned to 'on'. If not it's not working.

 

[Infamous Ob]

Geesh, the CEG came alive for my Contour...! Thanks for all the replies. I have not had a chance to touch my vehicle since it's still at the storage yard of the company who towed it out of the road last Thursday.

It was idling so rough at one point that I thought I would stall for sure...lol

I would love to enjoy the challenge of saving and repairing my Contour, but I'm going to let it go. I'm going to hand it over to the tow company and they're going to scrap it.

 

[gorman]

....... maybe there's a CEG er near you that could take it off you for the same as the tow co. offered you ..... i'd guess it was a fuel or pump/filter issue and that and a routine service would sort it out ....G.

 

[Infamous Ob]

It's going to cost me way too much to retrieve from the tow yard at this point. They're charging $20/Day but I'm going to sign it over to them and they'll waive the storage fee.

 

[babblefish]

Too bad, as I believe it was probably your fuel pump that failed. The same thing happened to my 98 SE. As someone already mentioned, turn on the key (without starting the engine) and listen for the sound of the fuel pump humming from under the back seat (where the fuel tank is located). It will be a brief sound, a couple of seconds or so. If you hear nothing, well, there you go.