Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Everything stopped.

'98 SVT (E0). 20 ft down the driveway this AM everything stopped. Engine quit, no lights, no radio, no reaction of any kind to any ignition switch position, power antenna stays up, seats inoperative so wife cannot stear while I push. In all aspects dead as a door nail. Sounds like simple bad cable connection.

Connections turn out to be good. Battery checks strong, 13.5 volts. Neg cable snug. Pos cable at alternator snug. Full voltage between starter lead and engine ground. Full voltage to BJB.

Drop the car off the stands(what a bad placement for an alternator)and it starts just fine except rev hunts per usual adaptive relearning after power disruption.

Is there some kind of master breaker or fusible link I should be looking at? Could this be a PATS issue? I'm not keen on a repeat that might take me farther away from my tools.

look on the battary there is a plastic thing that all of the wires go in too... that should be you problem...replace that with some brass connetors. get them at auto zone.. that same thing happend to my contour and my girl frends altima......also you should change that plastic connetor peace on the starter, when you have problems starting the car.......

There is a Mega Fuse located in alt to starter circuit, located behind/below coilpack. Even if blown, however, would not account for your symptoms.
Removal of battery and thorough examination of wiring in that area of engine compartment recommended.

My '95 GL with a 4 cylynder did the same thing about three years ago. It was the Mega link or what-ever it's called.

Like a dumb ass I told the shop that it was the alternator and they asked me to go buy one and they'd install it... I know why they did that! It wasn't the alternator and they didn't have to eat the cost of it not being the problem. I guess that they could have lied to me and said that it was, but they are super nice guys. It was REAL cold and I was too lazy!

Have the mega link or master fusable link checked.

It seems like it was on the firewall on my car.

Danny Brown

Thanks guys for the tips.

More careful inspection was the ticket. I thought I did a good job of keeping the terminals clean as the miles rolled by. What I hadn't done was peel back the shrink tubing that covers the crimp on the main cables. Positive side was caked full of corrosion. I must have wiggled them enough on my first voltage checks to re-establish contact. This was never a problem in pre-historic times with cast lead battery connectors.

We're clean and running for now.