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'98 Ford: No-start, good battery, odd interior symptoms.


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1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC

 

Yesterday, the car started right up and ran fine.

 

Today, I get a "chunk chunk chunk", but no sustained effort to turn the motor.

 

When I turn the key off and remove it, everything inside the car stays on: data center, accessory button lights, I can cycle the windows and locks from either seat. It's as though he key is still in the run position. Also, the radio comes on by itself, in the cassett function.

 

The Anti-threft light is either on or blinking the whole time.

 

Jumping had no effect, good battery.

 

Unhooking the battery to try a "reset" had no effect.

 

The only thing I'd done to the car between shutting it off yesterday and turning it on today was prying out the switch lever from the passenger side door. The cap is gone, so I pried it out to glue it.

http://s15.postimage.org/nyj3uhym3/IMG_1768.jpg

 

Did I trip the anti-theft or something? What can I do to disable it?

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Bad starter maybe? Trying to find where the click is coming from.... it's more of a loud "Clank", comes at a rhythm of about 1 per second. Much slower that the clickclickclick I've heard from other dead cars.

 

Well it doesn't sound like its dead or has a bad starter the way you described, a bad starter doesn't really explain why everything is staying on with the key off. I guess you could unhook the starter and see if the clanking noise stops, or see if you can hunt around under the hood and get an idea of where its the loudest, you might need a helper.

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Sounds to me like the ignition cylinder took a shit, which would cause the power supply to be on in the car, and not start it...

 

When you turn the key does it feel different? Most fords are pretty easy to change out the ignition cylinder.. May want to start by taking off the steering column plastic and inspect the switch..

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for some reason I was thinking 98 ford was on the column with the big black ignition..

 

Sounds like you have an electrical grimlin, which after doing some research is a known issue with those..

 

Some of the clocks short out causing a bunch of random issues, door switches, a relay for the accessories to stay on shorts out and stays on, even though the BCM tells it to turn off..

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Eric, if it is the ignition cylinder I can give you some advice. I've been reading up on this since I need to replace the one in the GF's focus since its known to fail left and right (and as far as I can tell has already had the column replaced for the issue).

 

It's possible that the car "lost" the programming for the key. Rare but happens. If its the cylinder, I'm willing to bet that the Motorcraft replacement comes with tumblers. You *should* be able to key the cylinder to your existing keys. The cylinder isn't what determines if the key is programmed to the car, it just relays the signal so you won't have to reprogram keys unless you end up having to get new keys.

 

This is all assuming that's whats wrong with the car though, don't take any of this as troubleshooting advice, just general info from what I've gathered looking into the mountain of problems that is the early model Ford Focus. But I will say that cylinder failure isn't as uncommon as it would seem, and can cause some bizarre issues.

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Nothing to do with security sustem - it would not crank. Sounds like a voltage problem - check the battery for voltage and voltage under load. The SCIL module will not work with less than 10v. It almost sounds like the voltage was low and welded the starter relay contact closed, thus holding power on (just a guess w/o looking at a wiring diagram).
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Nothing to do with security sustem - it would not crank. Sounds like a voltage problem - check the battery for voltage and voltage under load. The SCIL module will not work with less than 10v. It almost sounds like the voltage was low and welded the starter relay contact closed, thus holding power on (just a guess w/o looking at a wiring diagram).

 

Asked around: Apparently these cars keep everything on for about 10 minutes after you pull out the key, or until you get out of the car.

 

tried a jump from the running Subaru, still no dice.

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Update: The lock pictured above.

I pressed the switch in, and now the power locks and keyless entry pad don't work at all, ever, regardless of key position.

 

I glued the switch lever back together and pressed it back down into the lock. As I was pressing, the lock was rocking back and forth and working fine: locks were locking and unlocking.

The last push, up over the rib and the switch snapped into place... the locks stopped working that exact moment.

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tried a jump from the running Subaru, still no dice.

 

No "clank"? Same "clank" as before? Check how many amps starter is pulling? Despite jump - I'd still load check the battery as well.

 

Although there are mutliple electrical issues - I'd go with the "big power" issue with the starter/battery first - solve that then see what else remains.

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No "clank"? Same "clank" as before? Check how many amps starter is pulling? Despite jump - I'd still load check the battery as well.

 

Although there are mutliple electrical issues - I'd go with the "big power" issue with the starter/battery first - solve that then see what else remains.

 

Still Clank.

 

Accessing the starter is a bitch, it'll be thursday before I have time to get her airborne.

 

I know that low volts in cars with loads and loads of accessories can make them crazy (like this), I just thought I'd get it to turn with the jumper cables and the 13'ish volts. Doesn't tell me anything about the amps, though.

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Still Clank.

 

Accessing the starter is a bitch, it'll be thursday before I have time to get her airborne.

 

I know that low volts in cars with loads and loads of accessories can make them crazy (like this), I just thought I'd get it to turn with the jumper cables and the 13'ish volts. Doesn't tell me anything about the amps, though.

 

Have you checked your battery ground cables/connections for corrosion/excessive resistance. That's where I would start.

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Well, I pulled the door skin to inspect the wiring, and when I put it back in, I noticed there was a clicking under the passenger dash, similar to a turn signal click.

 

It stops clicking when I shut the door.

 

I noticed that it clicks in perfect time with the anti-theft light in the dash.

 

Power locks "barely" work with this going on. Hitting the button gets a very weak response, like the solenoids aren't strong enough to lock the mechanism.

 

What TF is going on? Maybe I have a short in the system? Draw volts when I try to crank the car?

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