95 Escort (1.9) won't start

One day I went out to start my car and the dash warning lights come
on as normal but no signal is sent to the starter. The car started just
find until then. I suspect that it may be the ignition or maybe some
kind of relay that I can't find. Also the cooling fan won't cycle on so the
engine has been running hot under load (going up mountain roads).
The battery and starter are OK. I ran a wire to the starter and I have
been starting the car off the positive side of the battery and I also
installed a switch on the cooling fan so I can turn it on and off from
inside my car. Opening the hood to start the engine is getting old!

Any ideas what it could be?

Hi gurdian, and welcome to the forum.

For an automatic transmission, there is a transmission range sensor (allows vehicle to start only when in Neutral or Park), or for a manual transmission there is a clutch start switch (prevents vehicle from starting with clutch engaged).

In either case that switch or the associated wiring is likely to be faulty (open-circuit). If it isn't that then it would likely be a fault in the Start position contacts within the ignition switch. Check out the safety switch first though because that's the most likely culprit.

My component location guide for the '95 Escorts says the transmission range sensor (auto transmission) is located 'left-hand side of engine, on top of transaxle', and the clutch start switch (manual transmission) is located 'on the clutch pedal support' - presumably in the driver's side footwell.

I'll take a look at the cooling fan circuits and post some info. later, but meantime if anybody else knows what the common faults are for no fan operation then by all means let us know.

Here are the location diagrams:

Automatic:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/9459/auto2od6.png (http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2185/autoao7.png)

Manual:

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9659/manual2qt0.png (http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/5363/manualfl5.png)

Regarding the fan... it clearly isn't the motor since it works with the installed switch.
I believe that leaves relays (depending where the switch is installed), PCM, and the temp sensor.

I would most suspect the temp sensor to be bad, especially if it is the original.

A quick test of the fan relay is to turn on the AC and see if the fan kicks on or not.

If relays and temp sensor check out, I believe all that is left is the PCM, but i doubt that will be your problem.

There are two temp sensors. One goes straight to the dash gauge, the other feeds info to the computer to operate the fan. When standing over the driver fender and looking down at the sensors, the one on the left is the one you will want to check out.

Thanks, mightymoose_22, the diagrams I have here confirm what you've said - the temperature sensor feeds into the PCM, which then controls the two fan relays (lo-speed relay and hi-speed relay). There's also a 'Cooling Fan Power Relay' located inside the engine compartment fuse box.

Follow mightymoose_22's advice and check out the temperature sensor first. If that proves to be ok and if you have to move on and check the relays then here are the schematics. On the right-hand side of schematic 1, three conductors lead off the edge of the diagram - if you look at schematic 2, those three conductors re-appear on the left, so if you imagine those two diagrams laid out side-by-side, that's the full schematic. There are also a couple of diagrams showing the three relay locations. (Schematics and location diagrams all refer to the '95 1.9L)

Schematic 1:

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/3657/schematic1thtu8.png (http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3849/schematic1ir9.png)

Schematic 2:

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6453/schematic2thyi9.png (http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7569/schematic2fx3.png)

HI & Lo relay locations:

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/3373/relayshilothzk3.png (http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/3871/relayshilonz7.png)

Cooling Fan Power Relay location:

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8106/relaypowerthbc5.png (http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2854/relaypowerof3.png)