Car won't start

N

Nojuego

Registered
Hi guys, I was just given a '95 Mark VIII LSC with a few problems. First off, the thing won't start. The previous owner said it just died one day, he was driving it fine friday night then saturday morning it wouldn't start. I tried to get it started with no luck. The starter and battery seem fine(it was cranking like a champ) but the thing just would not start. When I had it towed the truck driver tried to reset the inertia switch(fuel cutoff in case of rearend impact) with no luck. This thing has a full tank of gas as well. It has been sitting for about 8+ months so i'm not quite sure exactly what the problem is. Any suggestions?

I'd go to a mechanic but the air shocks went out(which is why it was parked in the first place, cops didn't like the lowrider effect I guess) so i'm going to be replacing them with a spring setup I found elsewhere on this forum. Any tips for that little project would be helpful as well.

Thanks
 
The first thing that I would do is try unplugging and replugging in, the crankshaft position sensor. It's located near the crankshaft pulley, just underneath the air conditioner compressor. It's easy to see and get to from underneath the car.

You might need to drive the car up onto some 2 X 4 boards to get enough room to silde a jack under your slammed car though.

This seems to be a common no start problem with these cars, and unplugging and replugging them in seems to help.

Oh yeah, Welcome!
 
That did the trick thanks again. She runs like a beast. Just got a bit of squeaking in there, think it may be a pulley or something. The timing belt is a bit cracked so i'll need to replace that soon. Would it be difficult to try and replace the belt on my own or should I leave it to a professional?
 
What timing belt? There is only 1 belt in the mark and it has nothing to do with timing and or why your car is not starting.
 
What timing belt? There is only 1 belt in the mark and it has nothing to do with timing and or why your car is not starting.
Click to expand...

As bud pointed out, serpentine belt was the word I was looking for. It still works well and the car runs great, just mentioned it was cracking and wanted to know how difficult it would be to replace. I only have experience with 4 cylinder engines, all of mine had timing belts that I did not want to screw with because of the camshaft timing. Since this is not the case with the Mark, I feel safe in replacing the belt on my own. Thanks for all the help guys.
 
I just did one of mine and you will have no problems. You may want to check out your belt tensioner and idle pulley if you have a high milage car as now would be the time to replace them
 
I've changed more belts this year than most do in a lifetime. :p

Thanks to Jeremi and the steel Cobra tensioner, all seems to be holding together on the beast. ;)
 
Thanks for the input. The car has has about 130k miles on it. I was gonna check all the pulleys anyway since I think one of them may be whats causing the squeaking sound. My normal solution would be to toss some WD-40 on it but i'll be more attentive and probably replace anything if it looks worn.

I'm usually more of a Honda freak but this car definitely won me over. I may actually decide to keep the air suspension despite the cost just to feel the luxury every time I drive. Insane deal changed the way I think(free car, who would pass that up?) getting behind the wheel and reving that engine after I got her started was the best feeling i've had in years. The dash diagnostics checks everything ok except the air suspension so i'm gonna look into it this weekend see how bad the bags are before I figure out if i'm going air or springs. Then it's on to the minor cosmetics. Wish me luck.
 
Yea I've been reading up on that site. Good thing is the car came with brand new rear bags so all I have to do is replace both fronts. Anyone know how to bleed the power steering fluid? The thing was empty when I started the car and now the pump is making all kinds of noise and the fluid gets frothy after turning the wheels. It seems to be working fine and only makes noise when you turn the wheel, think the noise may be because of air bubbles in the system.
 
Do you have any power steering leaks? You can pick up some Lucas brand power steering fluid with leak conditioner at most auto parts stores. Good stuff. Use a turkey baster to remove the old fluid and refill with new. Cycle the power steering system lock to lock several times and repeat drain/fill procedure until fluid remains relatively clean.
 
Is it safe to do that with that noise going on the whole time? I wouldn't want to mess up the pump. There doesn't seem to be any leaks of anything. It's been sitting for a few months so i'm sure something would be dripping if it was leaking and the ground under the car looks clean as ever.
 
Worse case you need a new power steering pump. Not that traumatic. It would be worth a try to flush in the new fluid IMHO.
 
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