friends 02 protege 5 automatic broke down(NEED HELP)

[Urban_grey_2.5]

My friend was driving her protege 5 today and while going around 55 mph the check engine and oil light came on along with some other lights(not sure) and the car just quit on her. She had it towed to my house and I have been looking over it but can't really figure out whats wrong. The motor cranks but wont start,it has oil, full tank of gas,newish air filter, recently replaced plugs and wires, newish timing belt, battery is good. Any input would be great as to where I should start, I am going to borrow a code scanner tomorrow... Has anyone on here broke down out of the blue like this?

 

[GlowstickNinja]

I would check to make sure you have compression in the cylinders. Could have blown a head gasket from a blocked pcv valve. This would cause the engine to not turn over and to have zero oil pressure.

 

[Urban_grey_2.5]

that makes sense, how big of a job is a head gasket on one of these things?

 

[tweety2300]

Before we jump to the headgasket conclusion something had to have caused the cel to come on. Get the codes it threw. It could simply be the coil packs. Narrow external issues down before the internal. Does it have spark and fuel pressure? If it does then check the compression should be about 170. But it should still start even with a bad headgasket. To check if it has spark pull the plug out and with the wire connected have the tip of the plug on metal (valve cover,frame,etc) while its resting on the metal have someone try to start it and you will see if it sparks or not. Btw do not touch the wire while the motor is turning over it will shock you.

 

[joka1]

Also check the main engine fuses in the engine bay............ Make sure they are secure............ I had one come loose and I had the same issues . I have been drinking and don't remember what it is callrese all the i fuses in the engine bay fuse box.

Rob

 

[GlowstickNinja]

could be a fuel pump or filter. Not enough fuel, causes it to run lean, throws CEL then shortly dies because lack of fuel. Could be lots of things...

 

[GlowstickNinja]

that makes sense, how big of a job is a head gasket on one of these things?

Big job, but like tweety said, we need to rule out all the small things first.

 

[HatchP5]

Check the coils and make sure theres a spark! if not thats your answer right there...they can throw a check engine light