Scanner shows no codes - but car cut out & won't start

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I was driving my 2002 Ford Focus, when the engine cut out & would not restart.
The starter cranked the engine over, I had plenty of gas,and the battery is almost new.
After getting the car towed home, I hooked up an OBD II Autoscanner.
The scanner showed no codes, and said the car passed the scan test.

I was expecting a sensor code, a fuel pressure code or an ignition coil code.

The car had done this once before - but the code reader had correctly shown a faulty crank sensor.

I don’t see any loose wires or anything obvious that popped off while driving.
BTW, it was a smooth road & I was only doing about 50 mph.

Where should I start troubleshooting?
What would cause the engine to stop but not show a code?

2

How many miles on your Focus?? Gates says if uses a timing belt and is an interference engine…120K mile change required…If the belt is okay, see if it is getting spark and gas…

There is no code for a broken belt, failed fuel pump, failed ignition…

3

I think Caddyman is on the right track. Check the timing belt.

This car has an “interference” engine, so if the timing belt broke you could have internal engine damage.

4

Caddyman & Mcparidise,

Thank you, both.
You are spot on with your diagnosis and saved me a lot of grief trying to trouble shoot the problem.

A broken timing belt is the problem.

The timing belt top cover bolts came off easily & I could pull it back far enough to see the belt. It is loose.

Thanks also for the reference to Gates, and letting me know that it is an interference engine. I looked at the www.Gates.com site and found out that the pistons can hit the valves when the belt breaks.

This is going to be fun…

5

Here is what I would do…By hand turn the engine over to the TDC position (hopefully there will be marks you can see) and then 90 degrees more (1/4) turn. This will position all the pistons at their mid-point in the cylinder bores. This insures the valves can’t hit the pistons. The next step is turning the CAM over by hand and see if it will rotate with out binding AND THAT ALL THE VALVES FOLLOW THE CAM WITHOUT BINDING OR STICKING…If it passes this test, line up the timing marks, replace the belt and before you button it up, perform a compression test in the usual manner. Any bent or damaged valves will show up as a very low compression reading. You want all the cylinders to be within 10% of each other…Hold the throttle wide open during the test…Others may have a simpler method to determine engine integrity…

Good luck to you…

6

Good news.

I replaced the timing belt & also the serpentine drive belt.
With the crankshaft at 1/4 turn past TDC, both camshafts rotated freely.
I haven’t run the compression test yet, but the car seems to be running well.

I think why the timing belt broke, was that the serpentine belt had pulled apart lengthwise and wrapped itself around both the water pump shaft, and the crankshaft.
It looked like a fishing line jam in there.
The serpentine belt only had 4 of the 6 grooves left when I took it off.

So, I bought an expensive drive belt that comes with a lifetime warranty…

Anyway the car is running, and seems to be fine.
Maybe, I got lucky this time.

Thanks again for your help.

7

Don’t believe that lifetime warranty stuff. It’s still a belt, and it will still need to be changed at the appropriate service interval. You got lucky this time…don’t let it break a second time, or you may not be quite so lucky.

8

I am having a issue in a 2000 Kia sportage it has a clicking noise that stays even when accelerating and it dies after warming up and it doesn’t show a code when we hooked it up to a code reader?

9

Allen, you just tagged on to a 7 year old thread about a different vehicle that has been solved.
Please click on the new topics box and start your thread so the replies will be better.