97 Escort Starting Problem
 

Hi Guys,

First post here, hope I'm not being too obtrusive in asking for some help on this first pass.

My girlfriend's car: 1997 Escort LX with 2.0 engine and 122,000 miles on it.

It wouldn't start this morning.

I drove this car yesterday. An intermittant problem has occurred when I turn the ignition, there is no turn-over, no click, nothing. I do have battery power, and when the car does start, it runs fine. What I was doing was shifting the gear selector into neutral, and/or just jiggling the shift selector forward, and then that seemingly corrected the problem up until this point.

I'm at work, and she can't get it started. She tried to do the steps above, to no avail.

Could this be the neutral start safety switch? I'm assuming there is one, but could be wrong.

Any and all help would be much appreciated. Happy Sunday!!

Maitai

You may have a bad starter..

Really, you have to look at the complete starter circuit. It could be the switch at the lock, the neutral safety switch, the starter relay, the starter solenoid and any weak or corroded connection/ground connection. You probably need to give your multimeter a work out.

It's electrical. The good part is it does not work. If it does not work it can be diagnosed.

Thanks so much to Bluewind for the thoughtful response! I will begin checking the system and see if I can catch it at an interval where this intermittant problem is occurring. Merry Christmas!!!

Maitai