[Jamie91]

The other day my friend was driving his 97 Escort to my house when it stalled out after coming to a stop. It wouldn't start after that so he thought he might of run out of gas, but it still wouldn't start after fueling it up. Tried jumping it, still nothing. My step dad thought it might be the ignition coil so we replaced it and still nothing. The fuel filter is fine, fuel pump works, spark plugs and wires are all new and working. Anyone have some advice?

P.S. It has stalled out a couple times while idling. Sounds like it was running out of gas even though it wasn't.

 

[pextor]

check the timing belt.

 

[Jamie91]

Oh forgot to mention that we checked the timing belt and its fine

 

[FordMan59]

Have you checked the compression? Might be the dreaded dropped valve seat. If it's getting fire and gas and the timing is right, then it sounds like compression is the issue.

 

[Jamie91]

How can I check the compression?

 

[FordMan59]

Compression gauge. The gauge will cost about $20-$30. You remove the spark plugs and disable the fuel system by tripping the inertia switch, screw the gauge into one cylinder at a time, hold the throttle wide open while cranking the car over 4 or 5 revolutions then just read the gauge. Reset the gauge and repeat it for each cylinder. The compression on all the cylinders should be within about 10% of one another. If one of the cylinders is really low you have a valve or internal engine problem.