Hello everyone, I have a problem with my car that I need help diagnosing, any suggestions are much appreciated.
2013 ford fiesta se, MK7, Manual Transmission, 150k miles.

Problem Briefly:

• Starter cranks for one second and stops by it self (without turning back ignition key). It can do that forever, each time the same thing. (See attached video)
• No pulse coming to injectors or spark plugs during cranking.
• Consequently the engine doesn't fire up

When I bought this car (couple of months ago) it started fine, drove very well but it had knocking sounds coming out of engine. I decided to swap the whole thing, got it a new engine from junk yard and here are some installation highlights.

• New engine was attached to automatic transmission and working perfectly (according to yard owners).
• I moved the flywheel from old to new engine with the extra thick disk where the clutch assembly is installed.
• I put in a new clutch assembly (clutch disk / pressure plate / cover / slave cylinder).
• Every thing is connected back where it should (wiring harness / hoses / manual shifter cables / clutch hydraulic line ...etc). To the best of my knowledge.

Now the moment of truth, each time I try to fire it up, starter motor cranks for about one second and disengages. Tried it for any number of times with same strength, same one second then shuts off without the engine firing up. (See the attached video).

Here are some diagnosis steps that I took.

• Visually inspecting the piston chambers and spark plugs, they are totally dry of fuel.
• Probing injector cables while cranking using a circuit tester, found no pulses.
• removed a couple of injectors and found they held pressured fuel behind (in the injector rail).
• Fuel pump sounds good and healthy.
• Extracted a spark plug, connected it to its coil, grounded it and engaged the starter. There is no spark.
• Replaced battery with a working one in my lancer, same thing.

After some research I found that these symptoms (no injector/spark pulse) can be caused by a faulty crank shaft position sensor (CPS) that confuses the ECU and inhibits ignition pulses. The new engine came with its CPS so I went ahead and swapped it with the CPS on the old engine (which used to fire up just fine). This didn't resolve the issue.

I need some advise diagnosing this problem, appreciate your help.

 

My first question is what kind of condition is the battery and cables? If insufficient power from battery , not enough power to hold starter engaged, can we check that?

If the engine only cranks foe a second , you gotta be pretty fast to try to catch any spark. Again, if battery is low or cables corroded, insufficient power to keep starter engaged AND engine has to be cranking for spark to be initiated and injectors to fire. Not enough power , entire system cannot function. Not knowing how well everything was assembled , hard to say.
It would be a good idea to insure all power and ground connections were connected and connections were clean AND none were overlooked.

 

Hi Hanky, thank you for your response.
Yes the engine cranks for a second - second and half max.. I guess the video is broken.

I ordered a multimeter and I'm going to check voltage drop on battery while cranking, that's the way I can think of for checking battery power.

during assembling I made sure ground cables were tightened very well. Firstly, there is the negative-to-body ground cable and that was untouched during the process.. will double check it..
There was one connected above transmission and in the left of transmission mount. Another was connected to the alternator. Both are washer-ended cables that were tightened by 13 - 15mm hex bolts. I will however check/clean them.

I will double check spark on the plugs.. I usually get help to crank it while I observe the plugs/injectors.

I have another question, is there a way to bypass ECU and/or relays to crank it... this may give me an idea about the connections and the condition of starter..
I read the manual of this car and could not find a dedicated relay for starter !

 

You maybe dealing with more than one problem after such a big procedure. I would attempt to resolve the worst issue first, that being the cranking issue. You can run a jumper cable from the battery down directly to the starter to check its cranking ability.After verifying that the starter is functioning properly and not binding with the flywheel in some way, I would check all electrical connections are sound. I would test the operation of the clutch safety switch considering all the work that was done to the clutch which could affect the operation of the starter.

 

Thank you Raski. I guess I can get a wire to the starter down there. Will keep you posted.

 

Let's start with this one.
If you turn on the headlamps and attempt to start the engine, what the headlamps do can tell you a lot.

If they go dim, battery could be low or cables corroded with high resistance or excessive starter draw.

If they don't do anything when attempting to start , poor connections to starter or starter is defective. You don;t require a meter to conduct these tests.

If you decide to bring power directly to the starter solenoid and it is located on the starter, consider connecting a jumper to the terminal on the starter first , then touch the battery positive with the other end of the jumper wire.

 

Okay, exciting news, car started using a relay bypass.

Thank you everyone for your valuable input, I went ahead and tested battery power and grounding points using multimeter. The battery gives 12 volts and drops to 11 on start.. and there is zero resistance (ohms) between battery negative lead and ground points. Lights seem pretty strong while cranking too.

Meanwhile,

I was able to bypass the starter relay, called "Starter Inhibitor Relay" According to the manual.
it cranked the starter for as long as I'm connecting it.
tried it a couple of time and the third... the car started !!.
the good news is that the motor sounds very good and runs well for as long as I'm keeping it running.
however, it's hesitant and when I try to rev it, it chokes. Some sensor somewhere seems to be faulty.

at this point, the car still don't start using the key, and can start hardly through relay bypass.

I connected an obd scanner and got these codes (attached)

• Crankshaft position sensor A circuit Range/Performance (P0336)
• Camshaft Position Sensor B Circuit bank 1 (P0365)
• Camshaft Position Sensor A circuit bank 1 or single sensor (P0340)

I have swapped the crankshaft sensor with the old engine and one of the camshaft sensors (they were working fine)

Regarding the battery power it reads zero ohms between the negative lead and the engine body in multiple points.

At this point I assume that the starter is good, connectivity and power supply is good.. and I also assume that the problem is with crank/cam shaft sensors ?

 

Hi everyone, thank you for your valuable suggestions. There are exciting news.
Brief notes :

• I was able to find / bypass the starter relay and fire it up...
• still doesn't start by key,
• engine chokes with hitting throttle
• got three sensor malfunction codes using an OBD scanner (Attached).

Details:I went ahead and done the following to check power / connectivity as it has been a concern in all replies here.
1- tested resistance between negative battery lead and engine body at different points, there is zero resistance.
2- tested battery voltage and it's 12 volts normal and 11 volts while cranking.

About the bypass thing:

I located the starter relay (called starter inhibitor relay according to user manual) and removed it. When I jump its switching ports, the starter cranks for as long as I'm connecting the wires. I Tried this two or three times and the engine suddenly started. Woohoooooo . I was very glad that it sounded very healthy, temp kept good, no oil leaks, and everything seemed working well.
At this point I assumed that I can eliminate the following:

• Starter is working fine.
• Starter is well-ground and the engine in general.
• Injectors / spark plugs are good and receiving proper ignition pulses.
• Battery is good
• Timing is set right (most probably) as there are no weird noises or something.

I will also assume that the ECU is inhibiting ignition due to faulty readings somewhere.

The engine is little hesitant and whenever I hit the throttle, it chokes and shuts, and its response to throttle is very weird. Of course still doesn't ignite using key and through proper channels.
I was able to get fault codes using obd scanner and there are three of them (see attached images).. here is a listing too:

1. P0336: Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Range / Performance
2. P0365: Camshaft Position Sensor B Circuit Bank
3. Camshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Bank 1 or Single Sensor.

The thing is that I swapped crank shaft / cam shaft sensors from the old engine during engine swap. I assume they should be good given that the old engine fired and ran just fine (except for the knocky valvetrain).

Any suggestions regarding these codes?
Thank you again.

 

HI everyone, I'm sorry this is the third time I try to post a reply without it being posted, may be some technical issue. Expect some redundancy.

Brief Highlights,

• I was able to fire the engine up using a starter relay bypass (it's called starter motor inhibitor on user manual).
• I got three error codes with descriptions out of OBD scanner :
  • 3/3: P0336: Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Range / Performance.
  • 2/3: P0365: Camshaft Position Sensor B Circuit Bank
  • 1/3: P0340: Camshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Bank 1 or Single Sensor.
  • See attached Images.
• I tested camshaft sensor using an Ohm-meter. They read 25k Ohms. Which I assumed a good range according to some research online (Don't know however the exact resistance specs for this car).

Details
As suggested in your replies ( thank you very much), I went ahead and tried the following :

• to check battery power using multimeter (12 and drops to 11 while cranking).
• Headlights don't dim much while cranking.
• Tested resistance between battery negative lead and engine body, ground cables at multiple points. It reads 1 Ohms. I'm not sure but I think that's not much.
• Finally I was able to keep the starter cranking and eventually fire up the engine.

I was able to locate the starter relay (Starter motor inhibitor as per the user manual), jumped it's switching sockets on ignition key set to Ignition, and the starter kept cranking as long as I'm connecting the wires.
When I did this for two or three times the car didn't start, I didn't expect it to.. But one time it started. (Woohooooo). I took this as a success and left the engine running for 15 minutes or so and At this point I was able to assume the following:

• Regarding Engine and transmission Installation:
  • Engine is good as it sounds healthy, no knocking or weird sounds. Only the beautiful valve clicking.
  • No oil leaks.
  • No high temp.
  • Transmission seems good as the wheels spins fine on first gear.
• Regarding the Ignition Problem
  • Starter is good and well-ground.
  • Spark plugs, coil, and distributor are good.
  • Injectors, fuel pump are good, all receiving proper pulses.

However, the engine is quite hesitant and the throttle is funny, when I press it the engine chokes. As if I'm closing the throttle not opening it.
At this point the car starts with bypass only and not the ignition key, and needs three or two trials to start even with the wires.

I was able to get some scan codes out of an OBD scanner and it reads as follows:

• 3/3: P0336: Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Range / Performance.
• 2/3: P0365: Camshaft Position Sensor B Circuit Bank
• 1/3: P0340: Camshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Bank 1 or Single Sensor.

Please note that I swapped 1 crankshaft position sensor and 2 camshaft position sensors from the old engine. Given that It used to fire up and run just fine except for the valvetrain knocking problem. So I assume they should be working fine.

Any suggestions from here? Do you think the engine came with a timing problem? or these codes only mean problems with sensors not the actual timing/positions?

Thank you.

 

HI everyone, this is the third time I try to post a reply without it being posted, not sure why. Expect some redundancy.

Brief Highlights,

• I was able to fire the engine up using a starter relay bypass (it's called starter motor inhibitor on user manual).
• I got three error codes with descriptions out of OBD scanner :
  • 3/3: P0336: Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Range / Performance.
  • 2/3: P0365: Camshaft Position Sensor B Circuit Bank
  • 1/3: P0340: Camshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Bank 1 or Single Sensor.
  • See attached Images.
• I tested camshaft sensor using an Ohm-meter. They read 25k Ohms. Which I assumed a good range according to some research online (Don't know however the exact resistance specs for this car).

Details
As suggested in your replies ( thank you very much), I went ahead and tried the following :

• to check battery power using multimeter (12 and drops to 11 while cranking).
• Headlights don't dim much while cranking.
• Tested resistance between battery negative lead and engine body, ground cables at multiple points. It reads 1 Ohms. I'm not sure but I think that's not much.
• Finally I was able to keep the starter cranking and eventually fire up the engine.

I was able to locate the starter relay (Starter motor inhibitor as per the user manual), jumped it's switching sockets on ignition key set to Ignition, and the starter kept cranking as long as I'm connecting the wires.
When I did this for two or three times the car didn't start, I didn't expect it to.. But one time it started. (Woohooooo). I took this as a success and left the engine running for 15 minutes or so and At this point I was able to assume the following:

• Regarding Engine and transmission Installation:
  • Engine is good as it sounds healthy, no knocking or weird sounds. Only the beautiful valve clicking.
  • No oil leaks.
  • No high temp.
  • Transmission seems good as the wheels spins fine on first gear.
• Regarding the Ignition Problem
  • Starter is good and well-ground.
  • Spark plugs, coil, and distributor are good.
  • Injectors, fuel pump are good, all receiving proper pulses.

However, the engine is quite hesitant and the throttle is funny, when I press it the engine chokes. As if I'm closing the throttle not opening it.
At this point the car starts with bypass only and not the ignition key, and needs three or two trials to start even with the wires.

I was able to get some scan codes out of an OBD scanner and it reads as follows:

• 3/3: P0336: Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Range / Performance.
• 2/3: P0365: Camshaft Position Sensor B Circuit Bank
• 1/3: P0340: Camshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Bank 1 or Single Sensor.

Please note that I swapped 1 crankshaft position sensor and 2 camshaft position sensors from the old engine. Given that It used to fire up and run just fine except for the valvetrain knocking problem. So I assume they should be working fine.

Any suggestions from here? Do you think the engine came with a timing problem? or these codes only mean problems with sensors not the actual timing/positions?

​​​​​​​Thank you.