Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 97 GL will not run after trip to dealer.....

Hello, everyone!

I've been lurking the board for about 2 years, and surprise, surprise, decide to register and post only after I've encountered a major problem. This will be long, but bear with me, please.

I own a 97 Zetec auto. Love the car. presently at 90K miles, and no major problems, until now.

In mid February, the blower motor quit working. After verifying with a test light that there was no current to the blower motor, I suspected that the recalled switch was at fault. Pull the HVAC controls, and find a melted plug. Also noticed that the horn and cruise quit working around the same time the blower motor did. Pulled the yellow relay from the fusebox under the driver's dash and found a terminal melted there, as well. Decided to take it to the dealer to have the recall performed, since it would be a free fix. Noticed that the car was sluggish starting, and installed a new battery, since the one in there was the original Motorcraft one....6 years old by now.

Drove the car at least 50 miles in the city over the weekend to clean the crap off the rotors, and braking returned to normal. I then left the car off at the dealer on Wednesday noght for the scheduled recall service. Here's when it gets interesting.

Dealer calls me 7:30 AM and asks if I want them to diagnose hard starting issues. I told him that the car was fine the night before and told him about new battery, recent plugs, and new timing belt/water pump, all installed last fall. Dealer calls at noon and says that they can't get the car running and they'll be performing tests. I informed him that the car sat for 2 1/2 months and the fuel could be stale. He says he'll check it out.

Today, dealer says that the car needs a new engine, due to a lack of compression since the car sat for so long ?!?!?!?

After I got out of work I went down with a friend and we hit the key, and noticed that the car would not turn over. After looking a t it we noticed that the A/c compressor was frozen solid. We got a non A/C belt from the auto parts store and installed it in the dealer's lot. Now the motor cranks over, but there is no spark. Pulled a wire off the coil pack and tried to get it to arc, but still no spark. All connections seem to be tight and we're getting it towed out tomorrow. Any suggestions as to where to look?

By the way, the dealer did perform the blower motor recall and also gave me a $63 bill for diagnostic time. I'm a little pissed, because the car ran fine when I took it there. Granted, the A/C compressor seizing could be a fluke, but what about the lack of spark? Seems like too many coincidences for me.

I haven't talked to the dealer face to face yet, but I want to get all my fact together before stating my case. I don't think that they could have gotten a compression test done with a seized compressor. You could barely see the motor attempt tu turn over before we got the belt off. Now it cranks but does nothing.

Any input on this dillema is most certainly welcome.

Thanks in advance!

John

'97 Contour
'86 Fiero GT

on my 96 contour there is an extended warranty on the electric harness in the car.. there is a known defect in the wiring especially under the hood for these cars.... it should not cost you anything as its still under warranty... have the dealer check the vin number of your car and see if the extended warranty applies to your car also.. i think it goes for 10 yrs. 100,000 miles.....

I have a 95 that I bought used for a kid to drive. It had a bad noise in the belt area that I thought was a bad idler pulley. It urns out it was the air conditioner pulley. It had gone bad and chewed into the clutch coil causing a 30 amp fuse (can't remember which one ) to blow every time a/c was turned on. It finally locked up and held the engine pretty still when I tried to start it. Sounds like this is your problem too. As for no spark, I dunno.

Well, I have an update to my story. I picked up the car at the dealer with a tow truck today, and had a chance to talk to the service manager. He said that this sometimes happens, and that I shouldn't waste my time trying to figure out anything since the most competent tech in the area (his words) said the engine was no good. They could of course, replace it a a cost of $3,800. He gave me a bill for $63 for diag. time which states in writing that the engine needs to be replaced due to lack of compression. After getting the car to my firend's house, we immediately performed our own compression test which revealed #1 had 155 lbs, 2 & 3 had 170 lbs. and #4 checked in at 165 lbs. Still had no spark.

After a few hours of checking power to all connections with a meter (everything good), my friend noticed that the crank angle sensor was unplugged. Plugged it back in, buttoned everything up, and it runs as good as it ever did, even with 3 month old gas in it.

My situation now is peculiar. I'm not positive what to do about the dealership. It's obvious that the sensor was unplugged on purpose, since the harness for it was tucked up 6 inches above the sensor. It did not fall off. The metal retaining clip on it was intact. I have a feeling that I was the target for an expensive repair bill, or at the very least the dealership was grossly incompetent at diagnosing the issue.

The A/C compressor was probably on its way out, I have no problem with that. But telling me I needed a new engine because of that? I don;t think so. Therefore I am pretty pissed at the whole bunch of them right about now. I intend to speak with the service manager on Monday morning (calmly) and intend to drive the car there and volunteer to perform a compression test in front of him.

At the very least, I want my $63 back. Am I being unreasonable about this? I just want to know how to present this to the dealer.

Thanks for the thoughts....

John

I don't think you are being unreasonable at all by you wanting your $63 back, but it is going to be like talking to a brick wall though. Do not go up there thinking that you must get it back. Their arguement will be that they "did spend time, that you ok'ed, troubleshooting on the car" and that is very important since you did ok the time to troubleshoot the problem. Their diagnois being wrong or right, you told them they could and they did.

I would drive the car up there and ask to talk to the service manager again. Ask him to come out and take a look at what you found and leave the car running. Point out the information about the crank sensor. If he is a half decent person, he will believe you and might try to work something out. If not, well... all I can say is good luck.

In the end though, if you do not get your $63 dollars back, be thankful that you had the ablities that allowed you to not be trapped by the shop. Not to say that is what was going on here.

Good luck, but most of all... I am glad to hear that you was able to get her back up and running.

At the very least, I'd file a report with the BBB. It's very obvious the sensor had to be plugged in for you to drive the car to the dealership and it was very obvious that it was purposely unplugged. That means that they must have unplugged it.

Whether they unplugged it to do something and simply forgot to plug it back, or if they purposely did it, you cannot prove. But it's still a case of gross incompetence.

Ask for your money back, but don't expect it. If they refuse, simply tell them (not with hostility) that you will write a letter to the BBB about it. One letter will mean generall mean nothing to the BBB, but for all you know this guy has gotten caught in the past, and all the BBB is doing is waiting for one more.

But don't let it slide without doing something. Whether or not they did it on purpose, or whether it was incompetence or fraud, they're likely to do it again. And if they had done it to someone like myself, with no means of checking how correct their diagnostic was, they'd have swindled me for $3,800.

If you complain to the right people, if it was incompetence, they'll be more careful next time. If it was fraud, they'll think twice next time.

Well, thanks for the replies, everyone. I'm going to the dealership tomorrow morning and present the facts to the service manager and see what kind of explanation he has to offer me. At the very least, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that I wasn't taken by anyone's antics.

I probably won't get any money back, but so be it. I would at least like some king of explanation as to why the sensor was disconnected. The only thing that I can actually prove is the fact that the engine does have compression and does not need to be replaced, contrary to what the written service report I have says.

I like to have some kind of closure to things like this...so I guess it's really for my own personal satisfaction. We'll see ehat happens in the AM.

Thanks to those who replied.

John

Well, another update.

I spoke with the owner of the dealership yesterday, gave him the rundown, and he called me back at work twice. He was very professional about the whole thing, and said for starters, they will refund the diagnostic money that I had paid.

Said he'd get back to me in a day or two, and let me know what he finds out after he loks into the matter himself. He did tell me that he spose with the svc. mgr., who in turn spoke with the tech who worked on the car. Nobody admits to unplugging the crank position sensor, even for diagnostic purposes.

I'll follow up with more as it becomes known to me.

As an aside, I was floored to see what the A/c compressors for these cars go for. I think I might have to look used for this baby.

John