Yup... another question on an escort! I would appreciate anyone's help (ok... anyone who has the correct answers would be best! heh)
1.9l 4cyl, has about 115k miles, timing belt was replaced at a ford dealership a few years ago (my best guess is around 50-60k miles ago).A few days ago was driving around, came home for 15-20mins, got back in to start it and it turned over but made all kinds of nasty "clinking" noises and wouldn't start. I didn't let it turn over for long, maybe 5 seconds. Is this a "common symptom" of a bad/broken timing belt?
If it is only the timing belt, I will get it replaced. However, I don't want to take it somewhere and have it be 'this and that, and we need to replace blah...". If it's going to be a high-dollar fix, I'd rather spend all the money on a new car!
Anyone have any suggestions? I'm not a mechanic by any means, but I can swing a wrench as good as a 5yr old, and maybe my swinging and the haynes manual can help me fix (or atleast diagnose) it.
Thanks guys!
OH... let me add. While driving around before it "wouldn't start" I thought I smelled radiator fluid in the car. It might have been something else I smelled (I thought I took a shower!), but just somethng I thought I'd add incase it helps. I checked the fluid levels and they're all fine.