# 1997 Ford Escort has trouble turning over **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** ford\ **Created:** [April 19, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1997-ford-escort-has-trouble-turning-over/138775 "2019-04-19T13:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rockzax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba8739/32.png) [@Rockzax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rockzax)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1997-ford-escort-has-trouble-turning-over/138775/1 "2019-04-19T13:38:31Z")
Tried to start the car several times and it wouldn’t turn over. AAA tested the battery and it was good and eventually got it to start. The man from AAA said it’s acting like it’s out of gas but the gauge reads 3/4 full. Any idea? ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1997-ford-escort-has-trouble-turning-over/138775/2 "2019-04-19T13:59:08Z")
If CEL is on, have the codes read and post them here. In the absence of a CEL and based on the AAA comments I would suspect the fuel pump, have the fuel pressure checked. If there is a fuel filter external of the gas tank that has not been changed, another possible culprit. ---
**Author:** ![shanonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@shanonia](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shanonia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1997-ford-escort-has-trouble-turning-over/138775/3 "2019-04-19T14:09:33Z")
Your engine does turn over, because it starts. But it doesn’t always start. Try the key dance to get fuel and fuel pressure up to the engine: turn the key to Run (not all the way to Start.) Listen for the fuel pump to run. It’s back in the tank and should run for a couple seconds. Then turn the key to Off and back to Run. Each “dance” should run the pump for a couple seconds. After a few of these cycles, turn the key all the way to Start. Does it now start? ---
**Author:** ![eddo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/eddo/32/2594_2.png) [@eddo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/eddo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1997-ford-escort-has-trouble-turning-over/138775/4 "2019-04-19T16:07:50Z")
along with the fuel pump ideas- does it actually have 3/4 tank of gas in it? ---
**Author:** ![Rockzax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba8739/32.png) [@Rockzax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rockzax)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 8:40pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1997-ford-escort-has-trouble-turning-over/138775/5 "2019-04-19T20:40:09Z")
I believe the gas gauge is accurate ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1997-ford-escort-has-trouble-turning-over/138775/6 "2019-04-20T02:57:38Z")
Is it cranking robustly, that rrr rrr rrr sound with the key in “start”? If so, the fails-to-start is either a fuel or spark problem most likely. Until you know which it is, fuel or spark, its going to be hard to solve. The fuel pressure priming idea (key dance) is a good one to try. If that consistently does the trick, most likely a fuel problem, faulty fuel pump or something related. A shop could easily do a visual spark check.