Does the battery have a full charge, battery connections all clean and tight?
With engine cranking, the vehicle systems get battery voltage. With engine running, it gets alternator voltage, there can be several volt difference.
With everything off use digital multimeter across battery posts, the generic spec for a full charge is 12.6 volts. Leave the leads on the battery posts, have a helper crank it, the voltage shouldn't drop below 9.6 volts, that is a generic spec.
The next test, w/o jumpers, have a helper crank it while you check spark at the plugs--check proper fuel pressure and fuel injector pulse. Any applicable trouble codes?
SOURCE: honda civic wont start
You might have to change the spark plugs or at least have them cleaned.
SOURCE: 1998 ford contour start up, alternator? battery?
Sounds to me like you drained your donor battery to the point where you can't jumpstart your car anymore. If you jump a car and it runs for a little bit but then dies that means your alternator is toast. If it was a bad ground, you would see sparks or a fire... Your battery only starts the car, once it is running your alternator supplies the electrical system and charges your battery back up. If you need more in depth help in replacing the alternator go to www.contour.org and get on the forums.
SOURCE: 1998 ford contour fuse diagram
dont have an actual diagram but if you check at mastercraft.com they have a copy of the owners manual online and its free to access.
SOURCE: 96 ford contour, temp gauge not working
first and foremost check the fuse box. there is a fuse for guages. The temp sensor is somewhere on the manifold and it will have a hard wire with probably a spring around it for protections that runs from the engine to the instrument cluster. You can remove the temp sensor and use a heat gun or propain heat and see if you get any kind of response. I suspect if all your other gauges are working the fuse is good. Most temp sensors do not use power only for lighting of the gauge, It just sends a resistance change to the water temp bulb and it moves the gauge. Is it a seperate gauge or in your insturment cluster? could be simple as a crushed line or the sensor went bad. It is normally self contained. I suspect it is a gauge and not a dummy light? if you can not get the one working in the instrument cluster I suggest going to and autoparts store and replace it which is very easy to do. You can remove the old sensor from the block and reinstall the new on in its place and run the cable back through where the first one was and mount the gauge in another area, It is very important to know the water temp since most computers use this info for setting the correct fuel to air mixture in a closed loop system. That is a diffrent sensor but you need to know the temp yourself to keep from blowing a head gasket or worse which can cause you lots of money to repair, I prefer to mount my own gauge seperate from the cluster, best of luck
SOURCE: changing spark plugs on my 96 ford contour
A set of spark plugs usually requires replacement after about 20,000–30,000 miles (32,000–48,000 km), depending on your style of driving. In normal operation plug gap increases about 0.001 in. (0.025mm) for every 2500 miles (4000 km). As the gap increases, the plug's voltage requirement also increases. It requires a greater voltage to jump the wider gap and about two to three times as much voltage to fire the plug at high speeds than at idle. The improved air/fuel ratio control of modern fuel injection, combined with the higher voltage output of modern ignition systems, will often allow an engine to run significantly longer on a set of standard spark plugs, but keep in mind that efficiency will drop as the gap widens (along with fuel economy and power).
When you're removing spark plugs, work on one at a time. Don't start by removing the plug wires all at once, because, unless you number them, they may become mixed up. Take a minute before you begin and number the wires with tape.
Be sure not to use a flexible extension on the socket. Use of a flexible extension may allow a shear force to be applied to the plug. A shear force could break the plug off in the cylinder head, leading to costly and frustrating repairs.
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