2003 Mercury Marquis

My car was completely dead. When I checked out the battery it was fine. Why won’t it start?

It needs to be looked at. It could be a blown fusible link or a bad starter solenoid. Or even a bad key cylinder. The good news is that diagnosing this problem should be simple.

Follow the positive battery cable down to the starter solenoid. Some of these Panthers have two, one on the inner fender and one on top of the starter. It’s usually the one on the starter that fails.

Do the lights turn on when you open the door?

Had this happen to me. It wouldn’t do anything right after driving it. There is a cable on the starter that comes loose. Tow truck driver pulled up, reached under the car and pushed on the starter cable and it started right. Took it to the shop as soon as I could and had the cable on the starter repaired.