2004 Ford Escort No Start

Yep, starter relay, ignition switch, loose ground. Not necessarily in that order. Look at the grounds first....................in fact, check all of the connections. Ignition switch and starter relay you can trace back with a meter. It could also be the starter solenoid.

Yes, just replaced one on my step son's truck.

They are cheap, so just go to Autozone or some place and buy one.

Suspect the ignition switch, as it's the most brutally-moved component. These can be a ba$£ard to change on a VW (secondhand T-shirt on eBay, etc.); maybe the Ford is easier. The Haynes Manual might be of assistance, perhaps?

Sounds like the ignition switch...

90% chance it's the starter relay (sometimes called the fuel pump relay). I had the exact same issue with my GFs car. It slowly got worse. $20.00 relay and problem gone.

My first reaction was, 'a Ford?!' I thought only Chevy owners came to CR4 to complain about problems with their cars. Then I saw it's got 180K miles on it, so that makes a bit more sense that you might finally have a small problem with it.

One thing to try is turning on the headlights and having someone turn the key. If the ignition is doing anything at all it will dim the lights somewhat.

When you go to start it try jiggling the key (and or steering wheel) to see if starts when it goes dead again.

Long shot: the neutral safety switch. Jiggle the shift lever, or, with parking brake on, shift into neutral and see if it will start then.

Having owned and worked on several Escorts there is a problem with the grounds even though the connections are tight there may be a corrosion buildup between the wire and the point of contact on the engine block. Let me also say that I have owned several because they are very dependable and most of them have carried me well over 200,000 miles

I had a similar problem with a Pinto wagon years ago... It gave me fits and took a long time and much unnecessary parts swapping before I stumbled on the cause... The car had a primitive "computer" mounted on the firewall and it was not grounding properly... Once that was rectified, the car went properly thereafter...

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas to try?

Don't just "try".

This is an electrical fault and can be properly diagnosed.

Your at the stage where you don't know what's broken so you should be checking off what is working.

Plenty of good suggestions already tabled that you should be exploring.

The most common electrical fault is a poor connector. The most common poor connector is right at the battery. Look for simple problems first.

Does the starter solenoid pull in when you connect Vbatt directly to the solenoid? If yes keep checking from there towards the switch....

A test lamp and an assistant will speed things up.

Your account of the battery state history is a bit vague.

Vcharge 13.2V is lower than nominal (13.8), not critical just low. What is that voltage when the car is running and the headlights are on?

The only clear thing here is the car sometimes won't crank. The related observations are all over the shop.

Take a breath, plan your attack and start again. Do you have a wiring diagram for this car?

I had a Ford Bronco II that started doing this. I was attending college and had to reschedule a test because the stupid car wouldn't start.

I had it towed to the repair shop and the mechanic came in to the waiting room to ask what was wrong with my vehicle. I told him it wouldn't start. He said when it was towed in, they started it and drove it into the bay. Needless to say, they couldn't find a problem.

Next, I realized that I had quite a few keys on my ignition key ring. I took all the keys off except for the ignition key. I never had the problem again. I suspect the weight of the keys was pulling down on the ignition key and it wouldn't start. ???

Who woulda thought?? VM

Hello Rick.A 2004 Escort is a very limited production car.Only 1,210 ZX2 came off the line in 2004. Do you have the 5 spd manual or the 4 spd automatic ? The wiring is slightly different. The automatic has a transmission range sensor between the starter solenoid and the starter relay. The manual has a start inhibit clutch switch between the Power Train Control Module and the Starter Relay. "Daughters car, new starter, alternator and battery, 180K+/- miles, started doing this several months ago. Starts and drives fine, no codes, no check engine light. Occassionally it will not start, turn the key and absolutely nothing. Sometimes it will jumpstart, sometimes not." Loose battery connection / dirty terminals ? "Sometimes it will require the battery to be charged (same with new battery)." See Technical Service Bulletin Ford Battery 3/19/07. See Recall Campaign Seat Heater Element Replacement,04B0651 ,08/31/2004.(Note-cases were reported of intermittent current draw,some of which seats caught fire.) "Put a meter on the battery while the car is off and drawing around 20-25 milliamps so that seems normal. Battery reading 13.2 volts w/ car running indicates alternator is OK." Maybe / maybe not. The microprocessor in the integral voltage regulator is supplied a command signal from the PCM indicating desired voltage based on sensor inputs. 13.2 volts is not going to push many amps. Try altenator voltage output checks (B Terminal) after the surface charge is removed from battery. Load the battery ,headlamps on for 3 minutes engine off. Start engine and bring RPM's to around 2000. Voltage should increase as PCM senses the batteries need for amperage. "I'm leaning toward a relay in the start ckt hanging up and occassionally not working or an intermittent problem with the ignition switch. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas to try?" Yes you can continue to throw parts at the problem including the parts previously mentioned in previous posts or one of the sensor / switches i mentioned or the Passive Anti-Theft Tranceiver Module or PCM which are in the starter circuit or you could start a go-no go basic diagnostic tree to discover what the problem is. Hope this helps.

Thanks all for the suggestions. Don't know when I'll get a chance to work on it. She took it back to the shop that put the alternator in it but it has started for them every day for a week now. She told them to keep it till the problem shows up. I'd like to work on it some more as I'm pretty stubborn about figuring things like this out. Just thought I'd throw the problem out there in case someone else had run across something similar. If I get to work on it any time soon I'll post any findings.

check to link between the clutch and starter. my dodge truck started to have this problem and everyone wanted to replace stuff. it was the rod from the pedal to the switch that completed the loop from the key to the starter. i would have never looked there but for the last few years the pedal parts have been made from plastic and they wear out. if you must push the clutch in to start the car look there before you start replacing electric parts.

Guess it's all a moot point now, she got rid of it without giving the old man a chance to play. Thanks for the inputs.