The Great 1991 Escort Mystery

Hello!

My Baby and me are having some problems and I hope one (or more even) will be able to give me some sage advice and help me solve the great Escort Mystery!

I have had my 1991 1.9 Ford Escort for 4 1/2 years and resently it has been going nuts. I have no idea what is going on..please help!

The Problem:
A day ago my car was getting really up there for heat...No smoke or nothing, but the tempture gage was higher then normal, fluttering right around the edge of normal. When I was driving it would go from about midrange all the way to the top of normal. The car engine also was running really rough, so I parked it for the day. This morning, I tried to give it a start, and it was turning over, but no start. I waited around an hour and gave it another shot, and this time it started (enough to get it off the street)

But, now I got nothing. It won't start at all any more. I changed the spark plugs thinking this was the problem, but no dice. I still get a spark, and I still have compression in the engine. However, the plugs were increadably black, not brown like they normally are. What can I try to get my baby back?

ck engin fuse in I/P fuse box if good the low speed fan relay probably went bad and caused ignition relay to go bad let me knoiw what you find

It's an old car... consider radiator or heater core blockage. Might be worthwhile to drain and flush the system... get one of the Prestone cleaners from the store that you leave in for a few days, then drain again and flush really good with water... fill and drain a few times with just water.... OR... if you want to save some time and if you know that it is the original radiator... slap down $100 and replace it... it is easy to do yourself.

it doesn't start and ran hot? hmmmmmmm, im gonna list a few things it might be, but dont quote me on this i don't know everything...lol....

head gasket? check if there is oil in your coolant

plugged catalytic converter? take a hammer and bang on it a bit, it's right under the exhaust manifold

Check if the coil is good, it might be going bad and not giving out enough power which causes rough idle and almost stalling sometimes. Check to make sure that the pcv elbow that attaches to the intake is not clogged or collapsed. Try a bottle of injector cleaner.