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car won't start

Featured Replies

Hey guys,

My valve covers gaskets bit the dust, I put new ones on it sunday, also did an oil change, but those are the only 2 things that got done to it sunday, ran fine before that.

 

I went to start it monday afternoon after i got back from work, the starter will turn the motor, but the motor won't fire.

 

I went out to work on it today since it wasn't raining, pulled the hose off the Throttle body, the injector isn't spraying any fuel.

 

I replaced the fuel filter, all ines are clear all the way up to the throttle body, replaced all fuel & ignition related fuses, still not spraying any fuel at all. other than a clogged injector, what you guy think it could be?

 

Any help you guys could and would be willing to give would be greatly apreciated.

 

thanx

Anthony

It may help us if you provide the year and model of your car to trouble shoot this though they are fairly generic.

 

The ECU needs to see firing pulses before it will turn on the injector. The most common problem with this type of trouble is the distributor not sending firing pulses to the ECU. One quick way to check that is to place a test light probe on the minus side of the coil with the clip lead to ground and try and start the engine. If the light just stays lit up and has no flashes then there is trouble with the CAS in the disty. If you have no light at all then check for power on the plus side of the coil. If you have no power, check the fusible links for a problem. Also, fuse #5 is critical in this circuit if you have a '85 or newer car.

You most likely knocked a connector off the distributer or something. Double, triple, even quadrupple check every connector in the area before proceeding.

  • Author

the car is a 91 loyale

 

I'll check test the disty first thing monday morning when i get back in town

 

fuel pump is pumping and the fuel filter is new

It may help us if you provide the year and model of your car to trouble shoot this though they are fairly generic.

 

The ECU needs to see firing pulses before it will turn on the injector. The most common problem with this type of trouble is the distributor not sending firing pulses to the ECU. One quick way to check that is to place a test light probe on the minus side of the coil with the clip lead to ground and try and start the engine. If the light just stays lit up and has no flashes then there is trouble with the CAS in the disty. If you have no light at all then check for power on the plus side of the coil. If you have no power, check the fusible links for a problem. Also, fuse #5 is critical in this circuit if you have a '85 or newer car.

 

grr... a car I'm getting ready for a friend just started running real rough, tach & engine rpm bouncing around. It eventually stopped firing altogether.

Since I had a good coil lying around, I swapped it in, to no difference.

 

So... now it looks like the disty decided to die on me. I'm not getting pulses on the - side of the coil like you're describing. btw, what frequency should those pulses be at?

 

so.. anyone got a spare disty for an '87 SPFI wagon? This distributor has a clip on cap, not screw on, and a different connector than my other two cars.

The pulses are pretty slow while trying to start the car. One pulse for each ignition. You can see them with the probe easily when they are there.

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Author

Sorry its taken me so long to get back on here guys, been crazy around here.

 

Here is the latest, I've replaced the fuel filter, the disty cap, and the rotor button, the disty is turning like it is supposed to, the coil had fried, the primary was dead. put a new coil on it, and still in the same spot, still won't turn over.

 

2 questions;

 

1) I lost the short screw on the valve covers when i was putting them back on with the new gaskets on it, that screw is right by the disty, could that be some kind of ground or a pin for the disty since the end is pointed?

 

2)what electrical parts could have fried along with the coil goin bad?

Check for voltage getting to the plus side of the coil. If you have no voltage then check the fusible links, one may be burned out. Also check to see if the horn works. This will mean fuse #5 is good.

  • Author

horn works all fuses still good, wihich of the fusible links is the one connected with the fuel and ignition? i blew one a few months ago, was the black one, motor wouldn't even click, replaced and all was good again

  • Author

Update: got my hands on a new multimeter, no voltage to the coil? Any ideas on how to go about fixing this? all fuses are good, so i don't know where to start after that, all my wires leading up to the coil are clean and connected the way they are supposed to be.

 

any help be greatly apreicated.

  • Author

found the problem, its the ignition coil resistor. when my coil fried, it blew it up as well.

 

No junk yard around here as any, and I really don't wanna have to pay what a dealership is gonna charge me, any of you guys out ther possibly have an extra or access to an extra i can buy off someone?

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