Non-starting Conti......need help quick!

CobraConti

CobraConti

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My parents own a 95 Continental that will not start. I said need help quick because they are calling a tow truck tommorrow to take it to a dealer and i want to try to figure this out before they get reamed by the dealer. This is a weird problem. The car was running fine up until about a week ago.

When you try to crank the car it acts like it doesn't have any gas but it does, it has almost half a tank. It is not a power problem because radio and everything works and the car will turnover forever if you keep cranking it so its definitely not a battery problem. This all started when my mom cranked the car last week and drove about 100 feet out of the driveway and the car just cut off. They tried repeatedly cranking it with no avail. They waited about an hour later and came back and it started up instantly. They drove it back into the driveway where it will not start at all anymore. I tried it today, the gas guage had 1/4 a tank, and on the first attempt the car actually cranked and ran for about 1 second then cut off. I tried it about 4 times after that and it never cranked, just turnovered repeatedly. Basically, its like the engine just isn't firing. So i thought maybe the gas guage was broken so i went and got some gas and filled it up to about 1/2 a tank. The guage went up, so its not broken. Cranked again repeatedly with no avail. The car is having air suspension issues but i don't see how that affects this. The car has had the "Check Engine" light on for about a year but the car has run perfect for that last year.

Any help is appreciated. I haven't popped the hood yet as it was dark when i got home tonight from out of town. Tommorrow will pop the hood and look around. If all this is because a spark plug wire has come off...............ill be pissed and happy! *owned*
 
ok, so i was talking to my neighbor and we were talking about cars and it turned out he had a code reader!! Score! So we hooked it up and got these two codes:

Ford/Lincoln/Mercury P0133Oxygen Sensor Circuit Slow Response (bank 1, sensor 1)
Ford/Lincoln/Mercury P1131 Lack Of HO2S11 Switches - Sensor Indicates Lean

Where are the oxygen senors at? Is one of them that sensor thing that is on the intake tube by the throttle body?

pther23, thanks for the reply im gonna find out when the fuel filter was changed last. If its not hard, i will change that too.

COULD THESE CODES CAUSE THE CAR NOT TO START??!!
 
CobraConti said:
ok, so i was talking to my neighbor and we were talking about cars and it turned out he had a code reader!! Score! So we hooked it up and got these two codes:

Ford/Lincoln/Mercury P0133Oxygen Sensor Circuit Slow Response (bank 1, sensor 1)
Ford/Lincoln/Mercury P1131 Lack Of HO2S11 Switches - Sensor Indicates Lean

Where are the oxygen senors at? Is one of them that sensor thing that is on the intake tube by the throttle body?

pther23, thanks for the reply im gonna find out when the fuel filter was changed last. If its not hard, i will change that too.

COULD THESE CODES CAUSE THE CAR NOT TO START??!!
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nope would just cause the car to go into open loop and get crappy gas mileage.you either have lost fuel pressure or the crankshaft or camshaft sensor is either bad or misaligned.check for fuel pressure at the rail schrader valve no pressure check that the pump switch in the trunk is on.flip it off hard and back on hard.the cam sensor is in the front right of the engine looking at it from front(of engine right fender)you will see a set of wires and a sensor in the head.try pushing it in they sometimes unseat and cant "see" the cam.the crank sensor is lookin from left fender on the bottom right of engine.check both for broke wires.id bet the cam is backed out a slight bit.both sensors are only 20-30 bucks and while knuckle scrapers are not bad to service.as for the o2 sensors there is 4 at 60 + each.replace them all and the car will run much better and gas mileage should improve alot.also mil will go out and the darn thing will pass emiss testing.good luck
john
 
thank you aristo and evilally. Yes this morning my dad, neighbor and I checked the fuel pressure switch in the trunk. It was pressed down as far as it would go. Still wouldn't start. We played with the air suspension switch turn/off and that didn't work either. We also jacked up the car and I wiggled both the camshafter sensor wires and crank sensor wires will cranking. Car still would not start. The wires for both looked ok, but they were brittle. So my dad call a tow truck. I offered to buy the $40 worth of sensors but he wanted to take it to the Lincoln place. Oh well. We didn't have a fuel pressure guage so i measure that. It is definitely a fuel pressure problem or those sensors but i guess the Lincoln place will charge us to tell us that *owned*
 
CobraConti said:
thank you aristo and evilally. Yes this morning my dad, neighbor and I checked the fuel pressure switch in the trunk. It was pressed down as far as it would go. Still wouldn't start. We played with the air suspension switch turn/off and that didn't work either. We also jacked up the car and I wiggled both the camshafter sensor wires and crank sensor wires will cranking. Car still would not start. The wires for both looked ok, but they were brittle. So my dad call a tow truck. I offered to buy the $40 worth of sensors but he wanted to take it to the Lincoln place. Oh well. We didn't have a fuel pressure guage so i measure that. It is definitely a fuel pressure problem or those sensors but i guess the Lincoln place will charge us to tell us that *owned*
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but did u reset the snap switch like i told you and the cam sensor is known to back out slightly(known problem)did you try pushing it into its seat?
good luck with the dealer.
 
CobraConti said:
We played with the air suspension switch turn/off and that didn't work either.
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I think you pressed the wrong button, It should be a red(I think its red) button right next to the air susp switch
 
Naw, i was pushing the red button. It didn't want to push down. I mean, it was already pushed down but it wouldn't come back up. You know how a button is.....you push down it clicks, push down again and it comes back up. Well, it wasn't coming back up so i figured it was just stuck in the "on" position. Is it supposed to come back up? As far as the procedure goes, i followed it from pg 70 in the 95 Conti owner's manual. What is a snap switch? I did play with the camshaft sensor. It was bolted on the block pretty tight. I pushed it in towards the block but it didn't move so i don't think it was loose. Thanks for all the advice everyone. I will let everyone know what the dealer says when they look at it Monday.

edit: One of my neighbors bets it is the fuel pump. I guess we'll see Monday. I will be pissed if we get charged $60 to pull the codes when we didn't even tell them to pull the codes and besides we already did it and know what it is. i hate stealerships.
 
CobraConti said:
Naw, i was pushing the red button. It didn't want to push down. I mean, it was already pushed down but it wouldn't come back up. You know how a button is.....you push down it clicks, push down again and it comes back up. Well, it wasn't coming back up so i figured it was just stuck in the "on" position. Is it supposed to come back up? As far as the procedure goes, i followed it from pg 70 in the 95 Conti owner's manual. What is a snap switch? I did play with the camshaft sensor. It was bolted on the block pretty tight. I pushed it in towards the block but it didn't move so i don't think it was loose. Thanks for all the advice everyone. I will let everyone know what the dealer says when they look at it Monday.

edit: One of my neighbors bets it is the fuel pump. I guess we'll see Monday. I will be pissed if we get charged $60 to pull the codes when we didn't even tell them to pull the codes and besides we already did it and know what it is. i hate stealerships.
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the switch goes both ways.snap switch =cliks on and off
maybe that but im betting a doughnut its cam or crank sensor.my personal bet is cam :woowoo2:
 
well it turned out to be the fuel pump. That is what the stealership has said it was anyways. They are ordering a new one right now so i will let you know the damage when its done. I have a feeling this is going to be ALOT. Nothing done at a Lincoln dealership is ever cheap.
 
CobraConti said:
well it turned out to be the fuel pump. That is what the stealership has said it was anyways. They are ordering a new one right now so i will let you know the damage when its done. I have a feeling this is going to be ALOT. Nothing done at a Lincoln dealership is ever cheap.
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conti did you ever check for pressure at the rail like i had first suggested?the pump is very possible for a 95 but it is odd to not have shown at least some drivability problems before a total failure.id have suggested a clogged fuel filter before the pump itself.(10.00 and an hours time)

oh and yes that red switch is supposed to clik both ways.
 
aristo1963 said:
conti did you ever check for pressure at the rail like i had first suggested?the pump is very possible for a 95 but it is odd to not have shown at least some drivability problems before a total failure.id have suggested a clogged fuel filter before the pump itself.(10.00 and an hours time)

oh and yes that red switch is supposed to clik both ways.
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interestingly enough it is hard to tell because the car is rarely driven. We have too many cars and non-use is starting cause problems. I drove the car approx. one week before it died and it drove fine (power wise). A week later my mom drives it out of the driveway 100 feet and boom it dies. The first sign of a problem. Like i said earlier, an hour later it cranked perfect and then remained dead until now after she drove it back in the driveway. No, i never tested the fuel pressure and i might kick myself for not doing it. I am going to run out and buy a fuel pressure gauge. I will probably never need it again but oh well. Oh yea, the Lincoln dealership is going to replace the fuel filter too while they are at it. I think its too late to stop them from changing the fuel pump.....
 
CobraConti said:
interestingly enough it is hard to tell because the car is rarely driven. We have too many cars and non-use is starting cause problems. I drove the car approx. one week before it died and it drove fine (power wise). A week later my mom drives it out of the driveway 100 feet and boom it dies. The first sign of a problem. Like i said earlier, an hour later it cranked perfect and then remained dead until now after she drove it back in the driveway. No, i never tested the fuel pressure and i might kick myself for not doing it. I am going to run out and buy a fuel pressure gauge. I will probably never need it again but oh well. Oh yea, the Lincoln dealership is going to replace the fuel filter too while they are at it. I think its too late to stop them from changing the fuel pump.....
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if you become the gearhead it sounds like your shaping up to be then yea you will use it again lol :Beer
 
well the car is back from the dealer and is runnin good. They replaced the fuel pump, fuel pump sender, and driver module(whatever that is). Parts and labor came out to $582.
 
CobraConti said:
well the car is back from the dealer and is runnin good. They replaced the fuel pump, fuel pump sender, and driver module(whatever that is). Parts and labor came out to $582.
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Where is the fuel pump and the fuel filter?
 
wtucker said:
Where is the fuel pump and the fuel filter?
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the fuel filter is under the car. It is in the middle to the passenger side. I will be doing mine soon
 
mark0101 said:
the fuel filter is under the car. It is in the middle to the passenger side. I will be doing mine soon
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Do you know where the fuel pump is at?

Please don't say in the gas tank..... :slam
 
wtucker said:
Do you know where the fuel pump is at?

Please don't say in the gas tank..... :slam
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um.........................................its in the gas tank :Bang
 
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