Will not turn over

2002 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER

91,000 MILES • 4.6L • V8

DOREEN MACK

MEMBER
1 POST

I was driving it down road low oil light came on. car quit and now will not restart. I can hear the starter try but nothing happens.Will not turn over. I found there is some kind of safety thing that causes vehicle to shut down for engine protection. Is there something I have to do to reset it?

Jan 9, 2018 at 9:45 AM

STEVE W.

✓Experienced Mechanic
15,358 POSTS

First thing to do would be to check the oil level on the dip stick as the light that comes on tells you that you have low oil pressure. If that light comes on and stays on you have either a very low oil level in the engine or the oil pump is failing. It could also be a bad oil pressure sending unit but as you say the engine quit and it will not turn over now, that probably is not the problem.

Once you check the oil level you will need to see if you can actually turn the engine over by hand. If the starter is engaging with a thunk but the engine is not turning over I doubt it will move by hand.
If it freely moves by hand then you may be lucky and have a different problem, but I would not count on that. I think you may have seized the engine, which means either a rebuild or replacement. I hope I am wrong.

Jan 9, 2018 at 11:54 AM

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