Car Won't Start

thaywood

thaywood

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Candor, North Carolina, United States
Okay. My damn car won't start! It started fine this morning. Left the house, dropped the kids off at school, stopped at the Wilco for a drink, and stopped at my mom's house on the way. When I got ready to leave mom's and go to work, she wouldn't start. It's strange because when the key is turned to the "on" position, everything works fine. Headlights, interior lights, radio, fan, instruments, all work fine. When I turn it to "start" everything dies. Just the "Anti-Theft" light keeps blinking really fast. I didn't have time to check anything this morning because I had to get to work. I had to drive my mom's '97 Cougar. But because of the theft light blinking the first thing that came to mind was that there was something going on with the anti-theft system. And I'm thinking that it may be my PATS key. Has anyone ever had experience with those keys losing their programming? When I get off work, I'm going to get my wife's key and see if will work. Also going to check battery terminals because there is some corrosion on the positive terminal. Any suggestions/help would be appreciated. :)
 
Sapperfire said:
Cmon Thaywood!!!!!!
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Dude. I'm gettin' old. My brain ain't the steel trap it once was:p The battery terminal is my first guess. However, the corrosion is very minute. Just a little bit of white powdery junk at the base of the positive post about the size of the tip of your pinky finger. And the terminals are tight on the posts. When I get home, I'll pull the terminals and clean them and the posts. If that fixes the problem, yay for me. If not, back to the drawing board.
 
Sapperfire said:
Pour a few drops of Coke on it...and CHECK the voltage
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I shall try that. :)

UltimateSVT said:
That'll do it... Clean it real nice, tighten them up & voila!
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That's the plan. I'm crossing my fingers that it works.

GMAN said:
The battery isn't the problem.
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I don't think there's anything wrong with the battery itself. With the key in the "on" position, everything works fine. It's only when I try to start it up that everything shuts down and the anti-theft light starts flashig quicker than normal:confused:

Pieces of 8 said:
Sounds like alt is about done
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I seriously doubt it's the alternator. I could be wrong, but I think it's either a battery terminal or something to do with the anti-theft system. Hopefully we'll see when I get home from work and have a few minutes to play with it.
 
Okay. I tried it again when I got home and after a couple of twists of the key, it started right up. Then I turned it off, removed the key, and tried it again and it started right up again. I did this several more times and it started each time. I'm stumped. I'm still going to clean the terminal ends and posts and see if that makes a difference. It's starting fine now, but it could act up again at any time. Could it be the lock cylinder?
 
Could be any of the dozen electrical devices needed for engine start
 
thaywood said:
Okay. I tried it again when I got home and after a couple of twists of the key, it started right up. Then I turned it off, removed the key, and tried it again and it started right up again. I did this several more times and it started each time. I'm stumped. I'm still going to clean the terminal ends and posts and see if that makes a difference. It's starting fine now, but it could act up again at any time. Could it be the lock cylinder?
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I had the same exact thing happen with my dad's '97 back in March. Drove it less than a mile to a 7-Eleven, shut it off... came back out to it and it was behaving just like yours (fine in "ON", dead at "START.") I waited a minute or two, pulled the key out... tried again after that and it started up just fine. And it's been fine ever since. :confused: Sorry I can't offer any help, just wanted to say you're not the only one who's had this happen.
 
Crankshaft position sensor below the a/c compressor pulley. Possibly the sensor, but likely the pigtail.
 
Could be a PATS issue not seeing the key for some reason...maybe a layer of hand grime or skin oil that the signal gets interrupted by
 
KStromberg said:
Crankshaft position sensor below the a/c compressor pulley. Possibly the sensor, but likely the pigtail.
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Thanks. I'll check that tomorrow.

Sapperfire said:
Could be a PATS issue not seeing the key for some reason...maybe a layer of hand grime or skin oil that the signal gets interrupted by
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Could be. I'll clean both keys and maybe the inside of the lock cylinder and see if that makes a difference. Although as long as it's starting I don't know how I'll be able to tell if it helped:)
 
Here's what happened in my situation. The way that I solved my mystery is by going out to the car early one morning when it had a no-start condition. I then crawled under the car, unplugged the crank sensor, plugged it back in, and it started right up. This narrowed it down to the connector/wiring to the crank sensor. Turns out that the pigtail was bad, and it did it again even after I sprayed out the connector. I ordered a pigtail which came with a new connector and length of wire and had that put in and it hasn't had an issue since.
 
KStromberg said:
Here's what happened in my situation. The way that I solved my mystery is by going out to the car early one morning when it had a no-start condition. I then crawled under the car, unplugged the crank sensor, plugged it back in, and it started right up. This narrowed it down to the connector/wiring to the crank sensor. Turns out that the pigtail was bad, and it did it again even after I sprayed out the connector. I ordered a pigtail which came with a new connector and length of wire and had that put in and it hasn't had an issue since.
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if i understand correctly, he had a 'no crank' situation. not a 'no start' situation.
which, of course, have different causes.
 
chris2523 said:
if i understand correctly, he had a 'no crank' situation. not a 'no start' situation.
which, of course, have different causes.
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That's what it sounds like. Can you verify that the car isn't trying to crank thaywood? If that's the case, I apologize. Ignore my post. Dammit. :slam
 
KStromberg said:
That's what it sounds like. Can you verify that the car isn't trying to crank thaywood? If that's the case, I apologize. Ignore my post. Dammit. :slam
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Yeah. It isn't trying to crank. Or...wasn't. It's starting and running fine now. But before, when the key was turned to the start position, the whole car died. It would not even try to turn over. But now it's doing fine. I just don't get it.:confused:
 
Tried it again this morning. Started up just fine. Only problem is it's got a little stumble at idle until it runs for about a minute then it smooths out. I'm still a little worried about driving it. And I haven't had time yet to check anything. Hopefully tomorrow. It's sitting at my parents' house right now and I have to work late tonight. I'll get around to it some time.
 
oh come to think of it, my aunts 97 did this. it was the wire for the starter solenoid.

when it wouldn't start, you got under and wiggled the solenoid power wire and it would start right up.

something easy and cheap to check.
 
chris2523 said:
oh come to think of it, my aunts 97 did this. it was the wire for the starter solenoid.

when it wouldn't start, you got under and wiggled the solenoid power wire and it would start right up.

something easy and cheap to check.
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Thanks!! That sounds logical! I'll check that first thing after work tomorrow. Sometimes my work schedule sucks. The car is sitting at my partents' house and I live 40 miles away. Had to be in to work at 1200hrs today and I get off at 2030hrs tonight and have to be back in at 0830 in the morning. Good thing I only have to do that once a week:)
 
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