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No crank, no start is not an uncommon problem, but it becomes one when no one, including Ford service, can diagnose the problem. One mechanic shop said the alternator was bad, but I quickly determined that not to be the problem with nothing more than a multimeter. Autozone said the car had a bad battery, so I bought a new one, which proved not to be the problem, either. A second mechanic determined that the starter was bad, so I replaced that, as well. Again, no crank, no start. This was becoming infuriating. I bit the bullet and had the car towed to the local Ford dealer who said that they would diagnosed the problem for $95. Their diagnosis was the the car needed additional testing that would cost at least another $220, but that it could require even more testing at additional cost to diagnose the problem. Outrageous!
I had a friend with a Lincoln of similar vintage with only 30,000 miles on the odometer that exhibited the same problem. He was never able to determine the cause of the problem and ended up selling the car for scrap.
Does anyone have any concrete ideas about this problem and how to resolve it? Many thanks to anyone who does!
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A couple of quick questions:
1. is the no crank one where you hear a click and nothing happens or is it one where nothing happens. Do the dash light dim?
2. Did the dealer say specifically what diagnostic tests were run to determine that more diagnosis was needed?
Starting circuits are not that complex (unless it is a keyless push button start).Here is an ETCG video on NCNS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqkhZmDnHQ
Good luck.
With a no-crank, a good place to start is the starter relay. Take the top off the under-hood fuse box and listen to it while an assistant turns the key to start the car. Does it click? If so, your problem is downstream in the high-current starter circuit. Could be bad battery-starter connection, defective starter, bad ground strap / corroded connection from engine to frame or frame to battery.
If the relay does not click, bench test the relay, and if it’s good, your problem is upstream. Check the wiring from the starter relay up to the ignition switch, test the ignition switch.
Also, the security features are a candidate. With many cars, if the chip in the key is not synced to the security system, the car will start and then die, but I don’t know about this car. And of course the security features could just be broken.
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