I was driving my Pacifica yesterday in some pretty hazordous road conditions. Sheet ice covered the roads and I hit a particularly horrible patch and went skidding out of control. I wasn’t going fast, but when my car hit the snowbank head on, it stopped running. And now it won’t start again. There is absolutley nothing. The electric works, windows go up and down, radio works, but the engine won’t turn over, doesn’t even act like it knows how to start. I called the dealership and they have never heard of this before. I know I am going to have to have my car towed somewhere to get it fixed, but does anyone have any suggestions?
When you say won’t turn over do you mean it won’t start or the engine does not crank over at all? If it cranks over you have probably tripped a a safety feature on your car that contols the fuel pump. Look in your car owners manuel for the emergency fuel shut off switch. If you find it all you have to do is press in the red botton on top to reset it.
If it won’t crank over then you should have someone look at your starting system and battery.
the engine does not crank over at all. I thought maybe if I disconnected the battery then hooked it back up again that it might trick the system into working, but it didn’t. So I’ll take your suggestion and look at the starting system, and battery. (or rather have someone else look at it) Thanks!!
Well you might try starting with the battery and see how far you get power. This will find the problem, but it takes a wiring diagram and some skill and a some time to do it all the way. You may be lucky and hit it soon.
I don’t know about your car, but some have various shut off switches and maybe the accident triggered it or some sort of main breaker was triggered shutting things down.
Good Luck
Some vehicles have a switch (I forget the name…impact switch? inertia switch?) which is designed to shut the fuel pump down upon impact. I know that on Tauruses it has to be re-set after an incident such as you described. I suggest that you check your Owner’s Manual for information on the location of this switch (assuming that you have one) and how to reset it.
If it turns out that I am correct, then I would suggest that you avoid that dealership in the future.
If you get nothing out of the starter, I’m going to suggest that your run-in with the snow bank damaged the wiring to the starter. Is there any possibility that you hit a rock or curb or something in your slide? I think this is a problem with the starter.
You may have simply got the safety switch out of adjustment. Try moving the shift lever around in Park while trying to crank the engine. You could also try putting it in neutral and see if it will start there.
I would like to thank everyone for their input. I really did a number on the car. I sheared the wiring harness off at the transmission, ( or near it, I don’t know the technical jargon) Damn snow bank!
Thank you for letting us know the outcome. Most times, people never return to let us know how a problem was resolved.
Although I am sure that you will drive much more cautiously on wintery surfaces in the future, I have a suggestion for you. If you invest in a set of 4 winter tires, you will be much less likely to lose control on snow or ice. Those winter tires, coupled with cautious driving, will make you much safer.