98 Contour dead a little help anyone?

My girlfriend's car died the other day on the highway. Its a 98 contour with 154K on the clock. We were cruising along at 65 or so, she stepped on the gas to get out of the way of someone who didn't quite understand the physics of lane changes and as the car was shifting the car just died. Wouldn't start at all.
We got it towed home. It is refusing to start. It is turning over but it won't start. A few months ago it was stalling out in low rpm turns, from a stoplight driveway etc.

We have come up with a list of a few possibilities:
Timing belt- replaced at most 50K miles ago.
clogged fuel filter
something screwed up in the ignition (I honestly don't even know what the distributorless ignitions systems consist of its electronic voo doo as far as I know)
ecm-God I hope not
alternator

I need to go out tomorrow and see if we are getting spark or not. I looked at it tonight but I didnt feel like tracing the plug wires under the damn plate they are run under.

I'm looking for any suggestions since we don't have the money to take it to a shop and let them try one thing after another until they get it. We don't have much of a work area since it is in the corner of our parking lot.

I'm looking for any suggestions anyone's got.

If it just died and turns over really easy, but won't start, I'd look into the timing belt. Idonno how easy it is to get to in that car, so you may want to do normal checks 1st, starting with checking fuel and fire. PLEASE make sure it's got fuel. :nuts: It sould studder of course, but maybe it wasn't notable to you. If it isn't getting fuel or fire, skip the T-belt till you find out why not.

I wouldn't think it's a fire issue, since there are 6 cylinders and it's unlikely all coil packs would quit at once. Having no distributor is an advantage here. :rolleyes:

Unless it hasn't been maintained properly, it probably isn't a fuel issue either, but you may have a rusted line or a faulty pump.

Timing belts on most engines shouldn't go more than 60,000 miles and of course, some don't last more than 30K. When it gets replaced, it's a great idea to also replace any guides or tensioners too. This gets expensive and too often, people skip it. Too often as well, they end up tearing it apart again far too soon to suit them. I'd look for a sight hole in the cover before removal. Might save some work. ;)

After those checks, if all things are present, look for a cam sensor or crank sensor to be an issue. Most of those are easy to replace, but they're all overpriced. I got one for my truck. $132 and I got lucky not having to pay full list. It was at a dealer and that's where I'll get the next if need be, knowing the quality is there.

I vote for the Timing belt as well.

Pull the oil cap off and turn the motor by hand with a breaker bar, or quick bursts with the starter to see if you can see the valvetrain moving. Is it a V6 or I4? Have you tried getting it scanned for trouble codes or Freeze frame data? Autozone and a few other parts stores will lone you a scanner.

LS

Its the I4. I am getting a bad feeling that it is the timing belt.

If it is thetiming belt and if it`s anything like the 96 Toyota Corrola I had its not to bad.As long as it didn`t take any valves with it.

So what was it?

I still don't know. I have been too damn busy with class and serving as a taxi driver since we are down to one car. It had to break right before we went back to class.

Well... Get on it!:lol:

I finally gave it a go, I changed the plugs and wires since it needed them anyway, still wouldn't start. Pulled a plug to see if it was getting fuel and it was. Rented a scanner from Autozone, which told me I was looking at a small EVAP leak and another emissions code. It was at this point which I decided I did all I could do with the basic tools I had in the corner of a parking lot.

Chrissy's dad called her mechanic and had it towed over. $660 later we get to pick it up tomorrow. I didn't talk to the mechanic, her dad did. Then she told me he said something about a broken tensioner screwing up the timing belt and damaging something else. I am assuming there was some valve damage...

Now mine is running like shit.

I finally gave it a go, I changed the plugs and wires since it needed them anyway, still wouldn't start. Pulled a plug to see if it was getting fuel and it was. Rented a scanner from Autozone, which told me I was looking at a small EVAP leak and another emissions code. It was at this point which I decided I did all I could do with the basic tools I had in the corner of a parking lot.

Chrissy's dad called her mechanic and had it towed over. $660 later we get to pick it up tomorrow. I didn't talk to the mechanic, her dad did. Then she told me he said something about a broken tensioner screwing up the timing belt and damaging something else. I am assuming there was some valve damage...

Now mine is running like shit.

I hate those damn evap codes :pist: usualy itll be somthing stupid like a loose gas cap though.
Are those motors interference motors?

LS

I am assuming it is an interference engine, since it is a 16 valve.. I think I saw that it was somewhere at somepoint...