Ford Mondeo IV Turnier 2.0TDCI 2009 cranks for 2 seconds then stops cranking

[Sad_Car__Owner]

As mentioned in the title my car cranks for a couple of seconds and then stops cranking, I can do this over and over and it's the same intervals every time.

A little background to the problem:
I was driving home for Christmas and at the end of my 12 hour drive my battery light came on and I lost the power steering, I was in a long tunnel and nearly home so I figured that I would continue driving and check it once out of the tunnel. Sure enough my car turned off before making it outside the tunnel, so I rolled to the outside and pulled over, opened the hood and saw that my fan belt had broke. Fast forward through endless phone calls trying to get a pick-up at Christmas Eve. Once I was home and ready to replace the fan belt I tried starting the car first, car cranks for 2 seconds and stops, tried again, same problem. I figured it might be some sensor sensing there was no feedback from the fan belt loop, so I fitted it with a new fan belt while charging my battery just in case. Tried starting again, but it was the same problem still. Had someone check the error codes and there were several relating to electrical issues, he deleted them and I changed the battery – same problem.

So now I've changed the battery and the fan belt while checking for error codes in between, but still no luck. now I'm at a loss for ideas on what to do. I fear the belt might have knocked something loose when breaking, but I didn't see anything out of order while replacing it and we didn't notice anything of the sort while checking the error codes.

Any ideas on what the problem might be?

[unofix]

I know you have charged the battery (a few times now) but have you had the battery load tested ?

Reading your story I understand that the battery light came on and you also lost power steering which would happen when the Aux drive belt (Fan belt) snapped. The concern I have is that with a diesel engine, even at night with the lights on the battery should have had enough charge to keep the engine running for a good many miles, at least 5 probably 10 miles.

So the fact that after the aux drive belt snapped the car broke down before you made it to the end of the tunnel would suggest that the battery is in poor condition.

Check the negative ground lead has a good connection to the body, and check that both battery terminal clamps are tight to the posts.

 

[Sad_Car__Owner]

40 minutes ago, unofix said:

I know you have charged the battery (a few times now) but have you had the battery load tested ?

Reading your story I understand that the battery light came on and you also lost power steering which would happen when the Aux drive belt (Fan belt) snapped. The concern I have is that with a diesel engine, even at night with the lights on the battery should have had enough charge to keep the engine running for a good many miles, at least 5 probably 10 miles.

So the fact that after the aux drive belt snapped the car broke down before you made it to the end of the tunnel would suggest that the battery is in poor condition.

Check the negative ground lead has a good connection to the body, and check that both battery terminal clamps are tight to the posts.

 

As I mentioned: the tunnel was long, and I made it to the end of the tunnel, so the car broke down a few minutes after the aux drive belt broke. And I changed the battery after I had someone read my error codes as it was singing on it's last verse at the time.
 

Just checked the negative ground lead and it seemed sturdy. Seeing as the battery is brand new (mounted today) I don't think that would be an issue. The wiring and grounding might be, so I'll have to look into that.

But to me it seems a bit weird for it to be a purely electrical issue since the car is able to crank at these 2 seconds intervals for multiple times (I have yet to be unable to continue trying, even with the old battery). I have to clarify that I know very little about cars in general, so I might be missing an obvious fault like the grounding, therefore I will have to check it with a multimeter once I get one.

[unofix]

Does the engine actually start and then cut out after two seconds ?  OR does it just turn over for 2 seconds and then stop cranking ?

[Sad_Car__Owner]

52 minutes ago, unofix said:

Does the engine actually start and then cut out after two seconds ?  OR does it just turn over for 2 seconds and then stop cranking ?

The engine doesn't start. The starter just cranks for 2 seconds and stops.