94 escort starting problem

[ezwizzard]

I have a 94 escort, started fine the other day,when I left work I got half way down the road and the car stalled out, and would not start again. anyone have ideas, I though it might be the fuel filter.

[denisond3]

Its very unlikely a fuel filter would clog up that suddenly. It might intefere with going above 40 mph, or it might delay starting up promptly - but I think it would start up after cranking a few seconds, even if the filter was partly clogged.
I would lean toward the fuel-cutoff switch having popped open on a bump, (there should be a light at the bottom of the instrument cluster to show this) or something the PCM needs for running that had quit. In that case you would hope the 'Check Engine Light' would be giving some indication of the loss.
If the crank postion sensor had quit (or its connector had failed) or if the vehicle speed sensor had quit, or one of the important relays in the black box under the hood had died, those could all cause the engine to quit and not restart.
Of course there is the matter of a slipped/snapped timing belt. If the car has much over 100,000 miles on it, has the timing belt been changed?
Im out of guesses.

[Davescort97]

May be a broken timing belt. Open the oil filler neck in the valve cover and watch for movement with the engine being turned over. If there is no valve train movement the timing belt is broken.