94 Escort - 1.9L - Excessive Clearance Between Crank Angle Sensor & Crank Pulley
 

Hello,

This is my first post here & I would appreciate any help that anyone can give me. I'm a Honda/Acura tech by trade, so forgive me if I don't use the proper Ford terminology.

Working on a 1994 Escort with a 1.9L & an automatic transmission. Car was towed in with a cranks/no start complaint. Quick check out shows that I have fuel pressure, but no spark. I have no pulse to the coil from the ignitor. Further diagnosis showed that I was not getting a signal from the crank angle sensor to the ignitor to fire the coil. I verified that the wiring was intact & sold the customer a new crank sensor. And guess what, the car still wont start.

Same problem with the same symptoms & I look like an idiot.

So I take a deep breath & dive back in. I still suspect a crank sensor problem, so I look there first. I immediately notice that there is almost a ¼” gap between the crank sensor & the crank pulley. This looks odd to me, but I haven’t worked on many Fords, I commit this to memory & start to look elsewhere. Later, everything else looks okay, so I’m back to the crank sensor.

The sensor is not adjustable, so I can’t move it closer to the crank pulley. Then I remember that I have a friend that has an old escort, I call her & convince her to drop by. Hers is a 1995 with a 1.9L, so basically the same car. The sensor on the ’95 is right up against the pulley, just like I thought it should be. So I’m wondering what’s going on. The wrong crank pulley??? So I pull her pulley & they look the same. I take the old sensor & pulley, put them on her car & it starts right up. Her sensor & pulley wont start the old car & have the same ¼” space. I put her car back together, thank her many times & send her on her way. I tore off the timing belt & covers to look for any damage to the front of the motor. Everything looked fine, so I went home & wondered how I spent a whole day on a no spark complaint & didn’t fix the car.

After a mostly sleepless night, I decided that we needed to talk to the customer & see if they could shed any light on the problem. The customer revealed that the car was “somewhere else” & that “they” had replaced the cylinder head & timing belt. After "they" finished, the car wouldn’t start. The cylinder head is used & the timing belt is a cheap aftermarket belt. We had the customer call “them” & explain the situation, they were less than helpful.

Not knowing what else to do, we pushed the car out into death row & I moved onto something else. But there it sits, waiting to return & cost me another days labor. I hate that car.

So, I have a ’94 Escort with no spark & no pulse from the crank sensor. A new/used head & timing belt from “them” & a ¼” gap between the crank sensor & the pulley. The front of the engine, possibly the oil pump, looks to be 1 piece & is in good shape. It does not look broken, bent, stretched, or otherwise distorted. I don’t know what to do here & I am asking for your help. I feel I know what is wrong, but I have no idea how to fix it.

Thanks in advance - Darren[/align]

being there!!
 

hi i work on cars out of my home garage self teach ,wen you turn the key can you here the relay kicking in ?,go to them and check power on all the terminal maybe w/r wire no signal from comp ,there are two relays, brown and green ,green is possible no energizing properly;check wire-ring schematics to and from comp,good lock!!:(

94 Escort 1 9L Excessive Clearance Between Crank Angle Sensor Crank Pulley
 

how long have you owned the car ? i have come across this before when a car has had its thermostat knocked out to cover up a head gasket problem, so the new owner would not suspect anything. c runtime error