- My 2002 Mercury Sable will not start. Car died on me while driving. Had it towed home. Replaced the crankshaft sensor, coil pack and plugs. Getting spark to the plugs and I've tried the starting fluid trick but car will not start. It cranks strong like it want to start but it won't fire. I've also checked the ohms on my camshaft sensor and it seems to be in the specs of where it's supposed to be at. Also have checked all fuses and all of them are good. This has everyone scratching their heads on what it could possibly be. I've tried running an OBD2 scanner and it doesn't give me any codes at all. It's only got 124,000 miles on it so I'm sure there is still plenty of life left in the old girl. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Make sure plug wires are in their correct arrangement.
You could use a timing light to verify correct ignition timing.
Which engine? Vulcan or Duratec?
Head gaskets were a common problem on Vulcans.
Duratecs were prone to overheating.
You could try a cylinder compression test for that.
Both have timing chains which tend to wear out. You could check for stretch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWSZFCZmNXk
Did you hear any engine sounds before it failed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5azm1NS2_M
Duratec:
https://www.youcanic.com/ford-30-v6-duratec-engine-overview-problems/
It's the Vulcan motor. I'm hoping and praying it's not the head gaskets. Thank you for the advice. I've heard the timing chain cover usually takes about a whole afternoon to remove and replace. I will do the compression test on it. Thanks again for advice.
And no it didn't give any sounds just stalled out and then died.
Does your scan tool show a tach signal while cranking? If not you may have a bad crankshaft position sensor.
Just pulled the crankshaft sensor out and hooked my ohms meter up to it. It's only reading 0.48 ohms. It said to test it at 20k ohms of resistance and said that it should be at least 200 ohms. Am I not reading this correct or could I have gotten a bad sensor?
You might want to double-check it, but sounds like that sensor is well out of specification. If you replace it be sure to use an OEM sensor.
No it doesn't show that. But when cranking I can see the tachometer moving.