No Start

Melon

SCCoA Member
90SC 5spd

Last week, went to start the car before work - it cranked once and then nothing. It was like it zapped the battery.

Was able to jump start it and it ran fine. Got home, turned it off and instantly - nothing.

First thought was battery so replaced it and still nothing. Could I have popped a fuse? (just thought of that while sitting here) Other thoughts?

Thanks
 
When you jumped it, did you put the negative cable on the battery or on the motor somewhere?

Fraser
 
does it just not crank, or no power anywhere? Maybe a bad ground to the block? Are your connections to the battery clean and tight? I'd also check the hot wire that goes into the power distribution block, i've seen a few older fords fry that connection and go dead (not necessarily sc's, but worth a look anyway) also possibly an ignition switch, but that wouldn't account for everything being dead like horn and headlights...
 
Everything in Post 4

I had a situation where I changed out the water pump.

Drove the car for a couple of days and it would not start after a trouble free drive.

No power period.

Measured volts at positive and solidly above 12 but across terminals on battery was only 11- enough to shut everything down.

Took off terminal cable on negative side, clean both sides and bingo.

Good luck, hope its an easy one like mine.

Paul
 
Since your jumping it battery to battery and the car starts ok, sounds like you have reasonable connections from the battery cables to the car. Just double check the negative cable going from the battery to the block to make sure its tight.

You could possibly have a dying starter solenoid or starter that needs the extra umph from 2 batteries to kick things over.

Fraser
 
I'm betting the connection at the terminals is corroded.....pull them, clean them and coat them with electrical grease---you ought to be good to go....Dan
 
If the starter solenoid was going out - wouldn't I still have lights, even just a dome light? It's like there's no battery in the car at all.

The terminals did have some corrosion on them - I'll clean them up and try again. I'll also double check the battery cables. It was just very sudden that this all happened. No rough starts or anything.
 
Check the wire bundle connector that is by the ignition. On the pass side, it can separate and cause issues with the car not getting power.

I am guessing that when it does not start, there are no lights?

Justin
 
Andy,

When my 89 started it was all of a sudden. Put another ground wire on it and ran to the other motor mount and havent had an issue since.
 
I am guessing that when it does not start, there are no lights?

I have absolutely nothing. It's like I have no battery in the car at all. When I open the door, there's no dome light, seat belt doesn't move, no dash lights, nothing.
 
Sounds like a bad battery or bad connections to the battery or main ground.

David

Even with it being a brand new one? Probably not unheard of, but not exactly common either.

Out of curiosity, I'm going to put a battery charger on it later to see what it does.
 
Even with it being a brand new one? Probably not unheard of, but not exactly common either.

Out of curiosity, I'm going to put a battery charger on it later to see what it does.

A lot of new batteries today come with a minimal charge.
 
Just in case anyone else is following the thread, got the car to start and pretty sure everything is fine now. The problem? Connection at the battery itself (and it was my own fault :rolleyes:)
 
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