My '97 Escort Wagon has become nearly impossible to start. When it does start it runs badly for a few seconds then stalls. I've checked for fuel and spark which both appear to be ok. Am I looking in the right direction by checking the timing belt next? The belt is not broken but I wonder if it might have jumped a tooth somehow.


The car has 148,000 miles on it and the timing belt was replaced 25,000 miles ago.

 

If your engine has a distributor, One way you can get an idea would be to set the crank pulley on the timing mark for TDC then look at where the rotor is pointing, The best way to confirm you are at the #1 cylinder would be to remove the spark plug and either stick something into the cylinder to make sure the piston is at the top or feel for the puff as the engine is cranked and the piston comes up to the top of it's travel. When the piston is at the top and the pointer is at TDC the rotor should be very close to the #1 plug wire position on the cap.

 

No distributor on my 2.0 SOHC.

 

You might have to remove the cover assy to access the belt and the timing marks.
Have you tried to spray some addl fuel ( carb/choke clnr) into the intake to see if it continues to run?
If it does it could suggest an insufficient fuel supply problem. We always try the easy tricks first. By this time you may have solved the problem. If not let us know, may be able to offer addl quick checks.

 

I have the worst news. I took the timing covers off and was hand cranking the engine to align the marks when the crankshaft wouldn't turn any further. I went back the other way and it locked up again. At that point I decided to remove the plugs so I wouldn't have to deal with the compression. The electrode on plug 4 was pressed into the plug. The last time I saw that on another car it was caused by a broken rod.

This car isn't worth an engine rebuild so unless someone has a better idea I will be removing some things (like the pair of tires I bought for it last month and maybe the seats which are pretty nice still) and have the junk yard come and take it away. I have until the end of the month to make a final decision as that is when the sticker runs out on the plates.

 

If you didn't hear a lot of noise or hard rapping when the engine tried to run the broken connecting rod should not be the problem.It is possible something else got loose in there and was jammed up against the plug. Depending on just how involved you want to get with it , wouldn't you want to know what really happened in there? If the valve cover was removed you could get some idea if it swallowed a valve or valve seat in which case a simple head replacement might be all it could require. Grant you the age and mileage are on the minus side, but depending on what you find could help with your decision.

I do not believe that your 2.0 is an interference engine , so it shouldn't have been caused by the timing belt allowing a valve to cause the problem.