Not Starting possibly ignition system somewhere

[danf6975]

Hello ,
boy do i need some help.

i have a 93 ford festiva gl (automatic)
up to this point it has run great and i really mean it . nice and smooth. its at 144000 and all its maintenance has been kept up by the previous owner.

the problem started with driving down the road and the engine just shut down as if you had turned off the the engine and pulled out the key.
an older wiser person in the area said the first thing to test for is spark as we passed by so he pulled the lead wire off the coil and held it near the frame while i cranked it.
he said its not developing spark. later i heard that coils can develope partial power but not enough so i replaced the coil and the cap and rotor

the reason i did the cap and rotor was because after fiddling around with the rotor and cleaning it off the car started and ran long enough to get it back home.
which led to me replacing them and after which it immediately fired up again nice and smooth but while i was letting it idle it then shut right off . no sputtering wheezing or anything ,just shut off like before and no amount of fiddling has helped not even the replacement of the coil.

there are really only 3 things i can currently think of maybe 4 to try

1 new set of lead wires
2 the little black controller chip like thing near the coil (cost about $100 new)
3 the points under the rotor ( dont know cost but dont have the tools to work on it so might have to buy a replacement that would hurt me financially)
4 some part of the electrical wiring ( i sure hope not because that could really be time consuming and or expensive )


i do not have a volt meter currently so i dont know how to properly test for spark or anything.

oh it cranks fine as far as the starter engaging and the battery is concerned

any help would be greatly appreciated

[FistyFetiva]

Originally Posted by danf6975

Hello ,
boy do i need some help.

i have a 93 ford festiva gl (automatic)
up to this point it has run great and i really mean it . nice and smooth. its at 144000 and all its maintenance has been kept up by the previous owner.

the problem started with driving down the road and the engine just shut down as if you had turned off the the engine and pulled out the key.
an older wiser person in the area said the first thing to test for is spark as we passed by so he pulled the lead wire off the coil and held it near the frame while i cranked it.
he said its not developing spark. later i heard that coils can develope partial power but not enough so i replaced the coil and the cap and rotor

the reason i did the cap and rotor was because after fiddling around with the rotor and cleaning it off the car started and ran long enough to get it back home.
which led to me replacing them and after which it immediately fired up again nice and smooth but while i was letting it idle it then shut right off . no sputtering wheezing or anything ,just shut off like before and no amount of fiddling has helped not even the replacement of the coil.

there are really only 3 things i can currently think of maybe 4 to try

1 new set of lead wires
2 the little black controller chip like thing near the coil (cost about $100 new)
3 the points under the rotor ( dont know cost but dont have the tools to work on it so might have to buy a replacement that would hurt me financially)
4 some part of the electrical wiring ( i sure hope not because that could really be time consuming and or expensive )


i do not have a volt meter currently so i dont know how to properly test for spark or anything.

oh it cranks fine as far as the starter engaging and the battery is concerned

any help would be greatly appreciated

Hey we got a 93 with exactly the same problem. Under the hood there is a box on the drivers side back by the firewall with what looks like wire jumpers. They are actually fuses. The middle fuse is the main fuse that runs everything including ignition, charging, starting and the computer. It is a fusible link. You may have to find one at Ford because NAPA and several others don't carry them. According to Haynes manual it's a thirty five amp link and will kill the car completely when it opens. We tried a circuit breaker and it worked for about 4 months. The culprit causing the over load may be the auto seat belt retractor. Check to see if it is binding or the motor, wiring or connectors may be bad. Fusible links are usually not expensive but our Ford dealer didn't have any in stock (go figure). Check the other two fuses also. Make sure the connectors are not turning green from corrosion.

[FistyFetiva]

Problem found.....

We had been have trouble with a fuse opening up under the hood of our Festiva for some time now. I should have thought about where these fuses are mounted. The problem begins when you combine a wet/damp environment with voltage, corrosion will happen. These fuses are almost fully in the open so anything from rocks to rain can and will get in where this block lives. The cure for the fuses being blown at weird intervals appears to be corrosion in the pins inside the fuse block. A bit of wet or dry 220 grit sand paper or a mild file will cure the fuse issues. I now have 14 volts on both sides of all the fuses after cleaning. Here how to find out whats going on. At the bottom of the fuse block there's a screw covered by a rubber watertight end. Only the overflow tube from the radiator reservoir tank is sitting next to and slightly above the connector. So with the engine off and a good digital volt meter check the voltage. Lets say you get 12.6 volts, cold standing voltage for a twelve volt battery. Now put the digital volt meter's (DVM) probe on one side of the fuse connector. You should read 12.6 volts. If not your problem is in the block itself and it may have to be replaced. If you get 12.6 volts on all of the front pins go to the rear pins. Now this is all done with the engine and ignition off. Check your voltage at the rear pin, it should be within 1/10 of a volt of the front pins voltage. If it isn't, there's a problem. I found mine was corrosion on the pins. Draw a diagram where the fuses were. Take all the fuses out. A little sanding with 220 wet or dry sandpaper until the pins shine and your done. Replace the fuses checking the ends of the fuses before installing. Retest the leads. I did this procedure this morning and we no longer have a fuse issue. The seatbelt retractors still don't work but I am thinking the servos have finally given up after 177,000 miles. No issues, fortunately they were in the locked position and they are still useful as shoulder belts.

[cummapart]

Well??? did you attempt to take FistyFestiva's advice???? DID it work?
cause I have the same year model and trans and am having the same trouble with mine.please let me know, thanks