Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Car will not start...

Interesting problem. This only happenswhen the car is warm/hot and has been sitting for a short period of time. Pulled into a gas station, filled up and turn the key and all of the lights go on, but no starter engagement. No noises, clicking, whirring, nothing. This has happened about 6 times now. The way I've fixed this is to pull on the black wire off of the positive battery terminal until I hear a faint sound like a muffled "pong".. I'm guessing a relay, but not sure. Car will start with no problems after that. I've told my local mechanic about the seperate black wire (goes to under the airbox to the starter???)and he informed me that it is in all likelyhood a bad powerblock (wiring harness).

Anyone else have this problem and does that wire indeed go to the starter? No CEL's from this, driveability has been excellent.

97 Contour, 216K, ATX, Duratec.

How Old is the battery?

It actually could be several things:

1.Starter Solenoid.
a) Have you heard any godawful grinding noises upon startup lately?

2.Crank Position Sensor
a) Has the car lately cranked without actually turning over?

3. Ignition Relay

4. Could be very low voltage from the battery causing any one of these problems


Any CEL on in the car?

I had a CEL (P0171 and P0174) recently, but I took out the MAF and cleaned it and no CEL since. This problem existed well before a CEL came up due to the MAF. The battery is about 1.5 years old. I haven't had any grinding, hard starting or anything else like that that might be the cause. I guess I'll have to take off the airbox and see where that black wire goes to. I'm hoping it's just a simple thing like the wire is loose to a connection.

Thanx, I'll give a try.

I think I might hace found the problem. The black wire that runs to the starter was rubbing against the airbox and/or the bottom the the battery. There is a lot of wire ther to move around. I wrapped electrical tape around it and it seems to be doing OK. My local mechanic is going to look at it and maybe splice in a section of new wire.

Finally fixed. Car needed both the powerblock (main cable) and the cable assembly that includes both terminal cables as well as starter cable and all grounds. I also put in a new battery for good measure. Since I live in Las Vegas, I contacted Bill Jenkins at Team Ford and got both cables for $220 (retail close to $400). Had local shop put them in for another $200 and a new battery for $46. I was getting tired of going out every other day to jiggle the starter wire to get a spark. In at least 8 spots, the wires were frayed with little or NO insulation left. I think it was a disaster waiting to happen if I got an arc to the PCM.

Just so you know, there was a design change and you can't just buy either one, you need both as Ford redesigned the connectors. It look like a better design.

I really can't complain since this is the first major repair in well over 2 years with now 217,000 miles on the car.