I'm a regular on the 1st Gen and Single Turbo Fora, but don't know much about 2nd Gens. This is how a friend describes his issue: " . . . We are having difficulty getting it to run. It will start and run a couple of seconds. Then stops. It is getting fuel. I disconnected fuel line and watched fuel flow when cranking. We have had used starting fluid a couple of times. Any ideas?"

It sounds like it has fuel, spark, and compression. Why does it die after a few seconds? Common problem?

 

Usually the elect plug for the AFM has been left off/disconnected.

Or, it could be the elec plug for the water thermo sensor on the back of the water pump housing has been left off or one of its pins is pushedback in the plug. The ECU uses the water thermo sensor output to determine fuel delivery amount.

If the plug is off, the ECU defaults to a temp of 180*, hot, which means too little fuel will be delivered once the engine starts, and it'll die on you. Once finally started, even if that plug is still off, the car will start normal as long as the engine is still hot.

If that plug is off, starting will be difficult when the engine is cold. That is the bottom line.

You could also have a very large air leak somewhere that is causing the problem. Where? Somewhere.

 

Thanks -- good logical diagnosis. I really appreciate the assistance.

 

************************************************** ************************************************** ******************************

Recently I had a similar problem after I had been screwing around the alternator etc. What happened is, is I pulled the water thermo sensor plug off roughly. Reinstalled it after doing the alt maint. Tried starting. Hard to start. Just varoom for a moment each time. Put the RTEK 2.0 PALM on the ECU and sure enough it showed the water thermo sensor disconnected. PUlled plug off the sensor. One pin was *pushed back*. Reinstalled with PEMABOND 910. Car started right up. Enough fuel now.