Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 98 contour will not start

Hey all, I am posting here to help out a friend. He has a 98 Contour with a Zetec 4 banger. Here be the problem.. It will not start. It will spin all day long, but not start. I can hear the fuel pump prime, and we get spark at the plug wires, but no start.

He was driving down the road and when he got to an incline he said that he had no power at all. He hit the gas and nothing happened. He pulled over to the side of the road and it was idling real low to the point the oil and battery lights were on. He turned the car off and was unable to start it.

I am new to contours, as I drive an F150 so ANY and ALL help will be greatly appreciated. Good site by the way. Thanks in advance.

Bill

If you have spark and fuel and it still won't start...I would start looking at a bad sensor of some sort. Do you have access to a OBDII code reader? If it is a bad sensor (and your lucky) it may have tripped a code.

I had the unfortune of owning a 2000 Zetec ZX2 (what a piece of crap!) and it died one day and didn't want to start. After many days of frustration my brother figured out that it had a bad crankshaft position sensor. It had spark and fuel but it wouldn't start because the ignition system wouldn't fire consistantly. The sensor wasn't expensive but it was a real treat getting it installed. Had to remove the exhaust manifold to get to it.

Good luck!!!

doubt this is it, but a guy i know w/ a civic had this problem: car would sometimes start and then shut off or not even start problem: bad battery cable.

I will try and run the codes on it tomorrow. I read another post about the IAC causing a no start condition like this. Hmmmmmm... But I will post my findings. Thanks...

Bill

With a bad IAC you can start it with your foot on the gas.

I would check the fuel pressure first to make sure it has sufficent pressure to run. Should be 38 psi at the schrader fitting under the hood. Next look for massive air leaks around the intake ducting, anything that would bypass the MAF. If you have fuel pressure you can disconnect the MAF and try it to rule out a dead MAF by forcing the limp home mode.

It is also possible that the timing belt has slipped. They are usually changed at 60k miles.

Sometimes the cam or crank sensor goes out causing a no run.

Good luck!

Would there be procedures in the Haynes manual for testing the crank and cam sensors? Also the MAF? Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it. One more thing, just unplugging the MAF would trigger the "limp home" mode correct? Thanks again.

Bill

Crank position sensor 200-450 ohm
Cam position sensor 200-900 ohm

That will tell if they are dead but the best way to check them is with a scope.


The Mass-Air-flow sensor must work and be measuring all of the air going into the engine. If it does not sense any air, there will be no fuel injected. Disconnecting it gives a moderate unchanging signal wich is of course better than no signal.

Do you know what the readings should be off the MAF sensor? I have a Fluke Scope meter so that should help things. Thanks again.

Bill

MAF output is about .45 vdc at idle (800 rpm), up to 4.5 vdc at WOT.
But I dont know about cranking, never tried it.
Cam and crank sensors will spike as they come around.

Gotta go.

Update, Crank sensor tested good, as did the MAF sensor and the cam position sensor. It has 40lbs of fuel pressure and decent spark. It is at the shop now to get put on the diagnostic machine in the AM. I will post the findings so that this can maybe help someone else. Thanks for the inputs.

Bill