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02 SE Won't start! Please Help!!

9K views 61 replies 11 participants last post by  Desperate_Ashleigh 
#1 ·
I own an 02 ford focus SE Automatic. It won't start. It doesn't even try to turn over. The lights inside the passenger compartment turn on. I have replaced the Battery, tested the starter and the relays, and still no start. I have spent three days trying to fix this and I can't go any longer without my car. Please help.
 
#3 ·
how did you test the starter? jump battery power to the solenoid? Are you getting a signal (battery voltage on the small wire when the key is turned to "start") to the starter solenoid?
 
#5 · (Edited)
Areas to look at:
Starter
Neutral safety switch
Starter relay
Starter switch
Steering column linkage

Yours is an '02. My daughters was an '07. Her problem began intermittently. Turn the key and no start. Keep turning the key and finally it would start. It got worse over time until she had to turn the key on and off until her hand hurt before it would start. The problem for her was the steering column internal linkage betweer the key cylinder on the right of the column and the starter switch on the left side of the column. Turning the key was not engaging the start switch which sends the current to the solenoid on the starter.

This link is a post I wrote stating how I diagnosed the symptoms and the repair. Good luck.
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=309714
 
#6 ·
Well I have now replaced the Battery, Starter, and Starter Switch. I'm thinking it has to be the Neutral Safety Switch at this point. I don't know what the hell else it could be. We have checked all of the fuses, relays, and wiring. Please somebody help me..... I really don't have the 60$ for the new Neutral Safety Switch but I don't really have a choice now do I?
 
#7 ·
You can't possibly have checked wiring or the issue of no power at the small wire to starter would be resolved...............meaning all previous claims now must be assumed to be inconclusive. You CANNOT check wiring by simply looking at it. It must be physically tested also as part of an overall system.

So many make these claims and incorrectly...................and just throw parts at what is one of the easiest to understand systems on car, but you need to be able to understand wiring diagrams and the like. 9 times out of 10 should change only one part and back up and running then, but you must TRULY check the parts, not just say so.

Battery, starter and starter switch (what starter switch, not even one on the car! Or there's THREE of them depending on how you look at it.) were all checkable as good/bad and quite easily. Guess what, neutral switch is checkable too..................nothing personal intended at all but the skills are sadly lacking here.

Could easily not be the neutral switch either...................

If the PATS light at the emergency flasher button is blinking rapidly then you got PATS issues or bad chip in key.
 
#8 ·
I have one suggestion. Remove the new starter switch but leave the wires attached to it. Turn the key on to the run position. Take a screw driver and insert it into the slot in the starter switch and turn it all the way as you would with a key. It is spring loaded so make sure it turnes all the way. If the starter engages then your problem in located in the steering column.
 
#9 ·
WHAT starter switch? That's the ignition switch. Then there is a relay and further down a solenoid, or ANOTHER bigger relay. ALL 3 could be called starter switches by those unlearned. Even the neutral switch could be called one since that is one of the things it does. So, 4 now. Just calling it a starter switch confuses things greatly.
 
#10 ·
Well sorry for not being an expert at this shit. I'm a 21 year old disabled female who has no money and I had no idea what else to do. I have been fighting with this problem for two weeks now. I had someone come out and check the wiring I'm not some sort of [:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)] that just looked at the stuff.
At this point the last person that looked at it says it might be the PATS because he hooked up a voltage meter to the starter and it got normal voltage but when i tried to turn the key it went straight to 00.
 
#11 ·
Anyone competent in wiring can bypass the PATS for starter just to test most of the starter circuit. Go to passenger compartment fuse/relay box, look up the starter relay and temporarily ground the back side or ground of the relay coil, try starting then. PATS is bypassed there, the computer is out of the loop, engine should at least turn over. Maybe not start if a true PATS issue, but turn over.

Even simpler, remove top cover from relay, turn key to start position and then by hand push down the relay contact plate, car should again turn over. You're faking the relay coming on electrically. PATS still bypassed.

If neither works then still issues with the rest of it, buying parts does not guarantee fixed, sorry. I really hate being the bringer of bad tidings but really hate it worse when simple systems like this are too hard to understand too.

Your voltage going to zero could easily be bad battery cable to starter. Volts going to zero may easily mean the switching parts (ignition all the way down to small wire on starter) are working, just not enough power getting to starter with the big cable. Have someone take a battery cable and put one end on positive of battery and the other end of same cable to the big terminal of starter where big wire attaches. A jumper to bypass your big cable, if it works then you got cable issue.

Once again this stuff takes some ability, can easily burn down a car not paying attention with that big jumper.

Focus cars are known for the big battery to starter cable slowly going bad, look for any melting right where the cable comes to battery itself, the insulation may be melted the first couple inches, sign a new cable needed. They can melt down at the starter too.
 
#13 ·
Minor differences in car makes shouldn't stop a stepper...........all cars work in basically the same way. The devil is in the details but someone smart knows when to stop.

Let him have a go at it..................
 
#14 ·
Ok so my car still won't start..... I got a new starter and had them test it before I left the shop.... I have now replaced the Starter (twice), Battery, Ignition Switch, and the Neutral Safety Switch. We tested the wiring from the Battery to the Starter and still nothing!!! Please someone help me.....
 
#15 ·
Have you tried putting your car in gear before starting it, I saw you have an auto trans. As far as I know, some cars there is a PRNDL switch which tells the computer what gear your, this switch may be on your car too. If it doesn't recognize your in park or neutral it wont send power to the neutral safety switch, which then wont start your car. so moving the shifter may trick it in to thinking your in neutral or park. Hopefully this will help if not I do apologize in advance.
 
#16 ·
CJ, can't possibly help-the two things you speak of are the same part, LOL.

To OP.............You need an electrician right there with the car, it's plain whoever's working on it has not a clue, you're now buying good parts twice. You can't do deep electrical investigation and diagnosis over the 'net. By now that should be VERY apparent.
 
#17 ·
Are they really the same? I wasn't sure myself either but they seem like two different parts. One on the transmission to know what gear its in and the other inline of the starter system, but I do agree that an electrician should be there with the car also, it would also help to have a electrical diagram there.
 
#19 ·
I am just asking for suggestions not for you to diagnose it. I'm asking what else it could be. I am a 21 year old disabled female and I am doing all of the work myself. I cannot afford to take it to a shop or have an electrician come out and look at it. I don't have a job and only have a very small amount of money to live off of. I haven't bought the same parts twice I had a warranty on the starter and the starter that I had before that was actually bad but apparently it's not the only problem with the car.
 
#20 ·
Suggestions ARE diagnosing it. 'I'm asking what else it could be.' If that's not diagnosis, then the dictionary lied.

What engine in car? If says 'split port' on top of engine, engine could be locked up and starter will never work ever. Engine destroyed. If first starter checked as good and then went bad when installed, you burned it up trying to turn a motor that is locked like concrete. It happens sometimes on that particular motor.

After the last long post with PATS workaround suggestions and 100% zero feedback from you on that, you will not be getting long winded posts about how to check wiring. You do not have the skills to do it. You've already been given two ways to jump around major sections of the system to check things and no result mentioned by you at all. Many problems on cars cannot be cured by simply buying new parts to throw at the car, and your reports back scream that everything you've said so far is, frankly, unreliable.

'I have now replaced the Starter (twice),...'

Replacing a starter twice means three have now been on there. That's getting pretty ridiculous.

Fuse 8 in underhood fusebox and starter relay in pass compartment fusebox are the only parts you have left, any problem after that and it's wiring, all wiring.
 
#21 ·
I looked into the PATS and that doesn't seem likely because the light on the dash does exactly what it is supposed to be doing.
I have replaced the starter twice because the first one that was in there was making a grinding noise before I started taking apart the car in the first place, the second one the solenoid was moving around it shouldn't be doing that so I took it back. It was a re-manufactured part so they are known for being bad.
I am currently looking into the wiring. I was just asking for suggestions. I don't know what you want me to say. I can't afford to take it to a shop so I need some help. At this point all you are doing is attacking me about things that I can't do anything about.
 
#33 ·
There are two posts/terminals on the starter (see diagram on page-3). Terminal-1 on the starter is always Hot (12Vdc) because it is directly connected to the battery with a heavy gauge wire/cable. If this cable or the connections are corroded (faulty connection) it might cause your No Start problem. Amc49 previously identified this cable as a known problem for other Focus owners. The other terminal on the starter is terminal-2. Terminal-2 is always cold except for a few seconds during the engine start sequence (when the engine is cranking). If all of the wiring, switches and relays are working properly, terminal-2 should be 12Vdc only when the car key is advanced to Start. If you take the time to connect the multimeter to terminal-2 and “see” the 12Vdc hit during engine start/crank, you will know that most of the (control side) wiring, switches and relays are working properly.

You said:

Because you had 12Vdc on the starter when the car was off, you were monitoring Terminal-1. If the 12Vdc disappeared exactly when you tried to start the car, this indicates that you have a faulty connection that causes a (virtual) OPEN circuit because of the current/amperage. <remember my short story I told during my first post here?> If this is happening, please double check the red wire/cable going from the battery to the starter terminal-1 AND ALSO the ground wires that we previously discussed (on page 3).

Also remember that a faulty connection can hide itself, like a bad crimp, or some corrosion that is on the inside of a terminal lug. I have fixed 2 starting/charging problems recently without any testing at all. I saw ugly corroded wire on the positive cable terminal lug and cut the whole terminal lug off; striped the insulation, crimped on a new terminal lug and bam! Fixed. These were cars of friends, so I would never charge them, but I did get free beer and pizza.
 
#23 ·
Using a multi-meter, test the wire for continuity from the battery to the starter. The needs to be disconnect on both sides.
 
#26 ·
I want to help the OP with a few things to try… but first a quick story.

I am not a car mechanic, but was a helicopter mechanic/electrician for several years. One of the strangest lessons I learned was testing system wiring and components and I was positive that all was good, and yet the system would not function. In these cases, the culprit was a faulty connection. A faulty connection can test normal with a multimeter (ohms) and yet not fail until the system is turned on; the faulty connection fails only during load (amps/current). When this happens, the faulty connection turns into an OPEN circuit. When this happens, a multimeter testing voltage would toggle from 12Vdc to 0Vdc. I have seen this happen in low and high current circuits. Making it even more difficult to find, these faulty connections were often visually undetectable.

Please inspect any/all/some of the electrical terminals in this starter system. Remove and clean these connections. You can clean some of them with Contact Cleaner or in some cases scrape them with a file or anything sharp.

Find the cables that Ground the engine block to the car frame -> disconnect/clean/reconnect these cables. Do the same thing with any (ugly or not) Ground cables you find; to include the big ( - ) negative cable for the car battery.

Edit: I am only guessing that the Starter uses the engine block grounding straps/cables to complete the electrical circuit during Start. Can someone please confirm this?

Good luck.
 
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