Why won't my car start?

Tiny
BADMECHANIC01
  • MEMBER
  • 2000 FORD ESCORT
  • 150,000 MILES
I was driving the other day and my car was running fine. I stopped at a light and the car just cut off. I didn't even notice until the light changed. After two hours of occasional attempts to start it again, it finally fired up after making a weird noise that sounded like a small firework going off under the hood. It drove very sluggishly and wanted to stall every time I took my foot off the accelerator. When I got it home it idled a little low. It hasn't started since. I had my friend try to start it while I looked under the hood, and white smoke came out of the air intake. Any ideas?
Thursday, September 15th, 2011 AT 10:51 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
PROMECHANIC
  • MECHANIC
  • 536 POSTS
You need to check the fuel pressure and to see if it is getting spark to the spark plugs. You can get a fuel pressure gauge at any good auto parts store. You can also get an inline spark tester there too.
Once you have them then you can tell if you are not getting spark or if you aren't getting fuel. After you know that I can help you do more tests to find the problem.
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Friday, September 16th, 2011 AT 1:24 AM

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