I bought this car from a friend for next to nothing. It's amazingly good shape however it won't run. I bought a new battery for it as it was missing one. I've gone through and checked and replaced all suspect vaccuum lines. I've removed the air pump, ac system, catalytic convertor, engine fan and shroud, replaced the air filter with ebay cheap-o intake, checked plugs and wires, added fresh gas (3gal of 87), sprayed starting fluid into the TB and tried starting it....all it does is turn over and over but never catches and runs even with the starting fluid.

the way I figure it I'm either not getting fuel pressure to the injectors or I have no spark. Is there a quick way to verify I have fuel pressure and spark? I've been searching the FAQs and how-to's for a while and I own a Haynes Manual but a lot of things are better left to those more experienced. Any ideas?

 

Easiest way to check to see if you have spark: Use a timing light to see if it fires. if it lights up, you have spark.

2nd easist way to check to see if you have spark: remove 4 plugs, connect them to the coils, set them on the throttle body or some other convient place, and have a friend crank the car, see if they spark.

Easiest way to check to see if you're at least getting fuel at the rails: There is a fuel pump jumper located between the AFM and the passenger strut tower in the engine bay. It will be a yellow connector (two slots), in a black rubber housing. simply short this connector and turn the car to the "on" position, you should hear the fuel pump pushing fuel through the fuel rails and such..

try each of those, let us know how you make out.

 

While you're pulling the plugs to set them aside and check for spark, see if they're wet with fuel. If they are, you've got fuel...And, you may have flooding

 

ok, I will check these out tonight. Thanks guys.

In my opinion it feels like it's not getting any fuel pressure....BUT even without it it should've started on the starting fluid right....if it was sparking.. I've listend and listened but I don't hear a fuel pump clicking or anything.

 

you might want to check for codes too, could just be your intake temp sensor is unhooked or something like that, some wires tend to wiggle them selves loose some times. i dont remember what is needed to get a fc to start but im pretty sure some sensors are vital

 

Try to look at one system at a time ...

see if you have fuel, then if yes, see if you have spark, etc ...

if you don't have fuel, look at wiring in the FSM or Haynes and do some basic troubleshooting ... things are easier to fix when you take your time and check one thing at a time.

it seems you have removed a lot of things so a lot of things may have happened ... so lots of possible sources.

I assume you checked all the fuses

Hugues-

 

I checked the main EGI fuses under the hood. They all looked good. I'm pretty mechanically savy having worked as a mecanic for both ford and mitsubishi, however these engines are foreign to me (no pun intended) and i'm unsure of all their little quirks.

 

Sounds flooded....

 

i did try removing the EGI fuses seperatly but never at the same time. Would pulling them both at the same time be my next step?

 

Nope. Your next step should be following the troubleshooting advice listed, then telling us the response

 

I pulled all 4 plugs and inspected them. They were very wet with what appeared to be oil but it could've been really stale gas. (It wasn't sticky though).

I removed both EGI fuses and spun the car over for 5s 3 seperate times. Each time I did this I got a puff of white smoke but nothing liquid. It sounded like the engine had good compression. It was "puffing" pretty hard. After the third rep of starting I put the new plugs back into the car and replaced the EGI fuses. I quickly jumped in and held the gas pedal to the floor and tried starting it. Nothing.

I did notice though that the catalytic convertor immediatly behind the stock manifold is cracked and spitting out white smoke.....this is where all the smoke was coming from that I was seeing earlier.

 

what would happen if the primary catayltic convertor was stopped up? Would this prevent it from trying to catch? It's a very shitty looking Cat and could very well be stopped up causing the smoke to pop out of it instead of flowing through the exhaust properly. I had a turbo mustang with a stopped up cat that would die everytime I climbed a hill...we pulled the cat and wham-o instant fix.

 

If the original cats are still on there, that's definetly a possibility. What usually happens is the first precat craps itself and clogs the second cat. If clogged good enough, that very well may be your problem...

Couple of 17mm and 14mm nuts on the cats, and we'll know shortly, eh?

 

a good way to check if you have spark is have a friend that trusts you. Then tell him to hold the wire tand the plug and there you go he will definaly let you know

 

pulling off the primary cat as we speak. Will let you know what happens. Should re-do any of the un-flooding tricks again since no gas spurted last time I tried it?

I'll check the spark somehow (I'm all by myself). I live out in the middle of nowhere and my nearest freinds are about an hour away.

 

I got somewhat under the car....my jack wouldn't get the car high enough for me to get under as far as I needed. It appears the bolts that hold the first cat to the manifold are missing and causing the smoking I see...not something damaged. The test-pipe I bought is apparently for the second cat and not the one I'd need to replace anyway...very upsetting.

I did have a break through though. In an attempt to check out the ignition system I unbound the plug wires and noticed that the leading wires were crossed. I'm assuming that the housing closest to the front is L1 and the one by the tranny is L2. L being bottom plug and T being top plug. I tried putting the correct L wire on the right plug and it seemed to try a little harder to start but still nothing. I will check right now to make sure I'm getting spark at the plugs. I'll have to figure something out to see the plug while I'm turning it over.

 

i now have several small video clips of the car trying to start under various stages of the unflooding process. I've also got a clip of the smoke coming out of the exhaust behind the manifold....still not starting...very frustrating.

 

was unable to remove the cat/exhaust. Will attempt the atf trick to see if restoring compression gives it the boost it needs to start