Starting issues - No / Doesn't / Won't Start - MERGED

[prodsm]

All "my car won't start" discussion threads are merged HERE. We've basically made it easier for those who insist upon not searching by grouping together all threads from those with similar issues so you can just scroll through and see some possible solutions. To search for info within this thread, use the "Search This Thread" feature in the black bar about 3" above what you're reading right now.

Could be anything from a loose battery terminal to internal engine damage, and literally everything in between which may involve the electrical, fuel, and ignition system...possibly even something that you screwed up while working on the car yourself. While it's unlikely we're going to diagnose and solve your problem over the internet, feel free to discuss any possible solutions.



I live in Canada and right now its not very warm out, about -30c
my car does not have a block heater too keep it warm.

I tryed to start my car this morning and it wouldent start, ive had this problem before but this time, the car doesnt crank at all it just makes a sound that sounds like an electric drill.

Whats wrong.

Thanks

 

[96eclipse_rst]

Do any engine lights come on or anything.? You could get the codes for it

 

[MotoCARR]

1992 Galant VR-4
I will start by saying that the car has had a motor swap done, as well as an attempt to get fuel going as can be seen in THIS link to a thread where the previous owner was trying to track down the problem, but no resolution was found. It looks like the car has a Walbro 255 pump installed.

Car cranks but won't start on it's own. If we pull the upper intercooler hose, spray in starting fluid and turn the key it will run for 2-3 sec and die........at least that's where we started the day at . Here is the order of progression through out the day.

1. Checked that the battery has a full charge. 12.5v at rest, 11v during crank.

2. Pulled the MPI relay and bench tested it based on THIS thread and it all checks out. When installed, this is what it looks like and has this white wire running under the hood to a blue box fuse.

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3. Checked to see if we can hear the fuel pump buzzing/making noise. During crank we don't hear anything but after you let go of the key, you can hear the pump go buzzzzzzzzzz for about a second and then stop. My thought at this point is that maybe the pump is not getting enough voltage to pump gas. Back to the fuel pump!

3. Took a look at the fuel pump wiring. First thing we noticed was this unusually long jumper in the back on(if memory serves me) the black/white wire. Not sure what it's for or why it's there, but as I type this I realize I didn't check to see if there was an issue with this connection and that there was continuity on this jumper.

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Looking at the fuel pump.....corrosion galore, including the wire connections on the pump. Excuse the crude labeling but here is what I found at the pump. I see corrosion, I assume corroded wires, which drives up wire resistance and can keep voltage low.

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I start with the black wire that's grounded to the top of the pump. I notice that the wire is super stiff so I strip some insulation off and the wire has turned black, most likely from corrosion, it getting too hot, or a combo of both.

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I find that it's this way all the way to the black side of the connector, so I just snip it off, and then splice into it on the white side of the connector.

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Black/white wire.......here is where it get's interesting. I back the screw out that the wire is(now was since the ring terminal was so corroded it broke) connected to, and find that it is sitting in what looks like threaded plastic piece. Even though the screw was basically sitting in an insulator, the ring terminal was touching a little bit of the top of the fuel pump so I "guess" this was grounded.

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That being said, here is a picture of where the screw came out of which had the black/white wire attached, as well as the new ground I connected both the black and black/white wires

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4. Assuming the fuel pump now has solid grounds, we give it another shot to see if it starts. Now the car cranks, makes a new loud clicking type sound around the fuel injector area, and the car will only crank for about 1 second, even if you continue to hold the key in the "start" position. Also, we don't hear the fuel pump buzzing/making noise at all anymore. I tried grounding both black & black/white wires to the same ground on the pump, both to the battery negative, one on the pump one on the battery, none on the pump and two separate chassis grounds and the same result.

I threw in the towel for the day at this point .

Any thoughts/suggestions/pointers is appreciated!

 

[turbo life]

You may need a new fuel pump if fuel isn't getting into the motor.

 

[MotoCARR]

Even though I can hear the pump buzzing? I figured they either turn on and pump or they don't work at all.

 

[turbo life]

Have you checked spark plugs?

 

[MotoCARR]

I haven't pulled the plugs yet since it was able to run on spray.

 

[turbo life]

I would check them that sounds like the problem.

 

[MotoCARR]

If the plugs were bad it wouldn't run on spray. I'm almost sure it's fuel delivery, just a matter of where the issue is.

 

[crash89]

I highly doubt its plugs, as you said it fires with starting fluid. I dont think the pump is bad, I've had a 255 in my car for YEARS and never had an issue with it shitting out.. Right now your issue is with the wiring, you have to get it back to the point where you could continuously crank and hear the pump after you stop cranking. Then I'd check the fuel filter. Somewhere you arent getting fuel to the rail. Also could try and pull a feed line off and crank the car over to see if you're pumping fuel. If it is then you know you have a restriction somewhere.

 

[Dsmkauai]

Take the fuel pump out and bench test it to rule it out. I usually if I know the pump may be good. I'll put it in a small bucket of gas and hook a hose up to the top and point it back down to the gas. So the pump if it does kick on will not run dry, and the hose just keeps gas from spraying you. I would do that before moving on. Could be a cas issue have you checked that yet? I actually got my galant with similar problems. I had several bad grounds and multiple exh leaks from cracks in the mani, turbine, and o2 housing. Fixed it all and car fired right up after sitting for about 8 years there's hope bro!! Bro get a rewire kit and eliminate all the crap stock wires as much as you can. This will at the least make sure you have good power and ground at the pump. When I did mine I found some wires in similar ways. Also there's a ground under the cover going to the pump. You might need to pull the cover and check that one to, mine was toasty looking haha! Id also be looking for a new or used sending unit with that hole there it's no longer a sealed system and that could also cause problem, like not allowing pressure to build!

 

[MotoCARR]

Thanks guys, good place for me to start hunting .

I have not checked cas yet, wanted to make sure I had fuel before moving on to others!

 

[Readdy2die]

Hey what's up guys, long story short over the last few months Ive been doing a 6 bolt swap and finally completed a few days ago. I bought a black top cas and RREs harness to simplify the swap but after completing everything she won't fire up for some reason! I set the cas to tdc cylinder #1 and adjusted it over and over again but I still can't get it started. Ive checked plugs gapping, firing order, leaks, all connections, fuses and relays etc.. I'll attach videos below of my problem and hopefully you guys can help me find a solution. Thanks I advance

Dsm 6 bolt swap no start video1:

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Dsm 6 bolt swap no start video 2:

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[DOUBLEPOST=1409145544][/DOUBLEPOST]No one has any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Matt_4G63]

Car is a '94 Talon 2.0L non-turbo. It stalled at stop sign yesterday and hasn't started since. The last time this happened to me I replaced a lot of parts and it ended up being the crankshaft position sensor. I swapped my old sensor back in after fixing it but that makes no difference. When I try to start it, all the lower belts turn but not the timing belt. Fuel pump and ignition coil are both new, and the crankshaft position sensor has power. I still need to pick up spark tester to test for spark, I'm hoping some of you have an idea what I can check for next. Thanks!

 

[92AWDHX40]

check for compression, turn the crank by hand an see if the timing marks move could be a timing issue.

 

[Matt_4G63]

Turns out I'm not getting spark. Could the crankshaft position sensor I replaced less than 6 months ago already be dead?

 

[mitsubishikid]

Maybe the ignition power transistor is damaged, or the wiring or connectors are bad inspect them, could also be a bad cas, or maybe the ecu is bad.[DOUBLEPOST=1409096509][/DOUBLEPOST]wait a minute did you [in your first post] say that the timing belt is not turning...

Did you check to make sure that the t belt is not missing any teeth and all the timing marks line up correctly?

 

[MasterFrmMO88]

+1 for mitsubishikid said... You're first post said all the lower belts turn but the timing belt doesn't? That would certainly explain everything. Check and make sure there is still tension on the timing belt (tensioner isn't shot), make sure the belt isn't missing any teeth anywhere/isn't showing signs of extreme wear. Did it run well before it stalled or did it feel kind of off? I had to replace the timing belt on my sisters zx2 awhile ago. She said it was running like crap and one day it stalled out and wouldn't start because there was a section of the belt where just enough teeth had been ripped off that the pulley on the crank didn't have anything to grab.

 

[Matt_4G63]

I rotated the motor by hand via a breaker bar off the camshaft pulleys and now the timing belt moves when I try to start it. Still no spark though. The two timing marks on the camshaft pulleys do match up. It was running great right before it died. The car did sit for two weeks while I was on vacation. It took probably 7 tries to get her going when I got back, but once it warmed up it was fine for the last few days. I have the battery charging now, I'm going to see what happens in the morning. I'll check out the lower half of the timing components tomorrow, thanks for that suggestion.

 

[DSM1G90]

"Uh-oh" ... mine did the same thing with dying in town.

Had to call up my daughter to bring the truck in and tow me home.

It was the ECU that took a massive dump !

Did a rebuild on the ECU and all was good in the world again.

 

[Matt_4G63]

I thought it might be the ECU, but I'm still getting power to the crankshaft sensor which I think is controlled by the ECU. Any test I can do to see if my ECU is bad? I don't want to keep throwing money into this car.[DOUBLEPOST=1409154503][/DOUBLEPOST]I just pulled the ECU out, it looks fine. No burn marks nor weird smells. I'm not ruling it out yet, next step is to check the lower timing marks.[DOUBLEPOST=1409170427][/DOUBLEPOST]

Maybe the ignition power transistor is damaged, or the wiring or connectors are bad inspect them, could also be a bad cas, or maybe the ecu is bad.[DOUBLEPOST=1409096509][/DOUBLEPOST]wait a minute did you [in your first post] say that the timing belt is not turning...

Did you check to make sure that the t belt is not missing any teeth and all the timing marks line up correctly?

Winner! The top half of my timing belt looked great, it wasn't until I got the lower timing belt cover off that I found the problem. A good 6 inch section of belt with no teeth. Now my question is, is my motor ruined? I aligned the top marks, and the bottom mark was about two teeth off. The oil pump mark was way off. Here's the damage:

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Should a new timing belt kit fix it, or should I be looking for a new car? Thanks to everyone, you guys are awesome.

 

[Mitsumungst-gvr4-tsi]

Of it still rotates and doesn't bind you may be ok with a new timing kit. Really hard to say bro!

 

[mitsubishikid]

Glad you found the issue man.
well who knows maybe you will get lucky and it wont be all messed up in the head...well on a brighter note according to your first post this happened at a stop light... so at least your car was not under a hard load when it killed on you.

My advice would be to get a good cheep basic auto parts store t belt installed, and then see if you get lucky if you have no big issues and the car runs on a cheep belt take it as a good sign, then get a better oem t belt [or the gates kevlar ones ]and new oem timing components and swap them in as soon as you can.

...If you want more peace of mind, you can do a leak down or compression test after you verify the car runs okay on a cheep t belt.

 

[Keenan]

Have you pulled the plug and wire one at a time and placed it on the strut tower and cranked it to check if your getting spark? Dora it smell like your getting fuel?[DOUBLEPOST=1409191028][/DOUBLEPOST]Does*[DOUBLEPOST=1409191111][/DOUBLEPOST]Never mind, the video finally loaded .

 

[evolution8you]

Start with the basics and check for fuel, spark and compression.

 

[wrencher]

Well watching the videos you have basic's fuel/spark, it does start & run...kinda.
Have you tried moving the CAS when you get it fired to see if you can get it to run a little better? Need to get a timing light on there that always helps too.
How is the tune? You have link on there? I see a GM MAF what does the ecu data look like anything goofy of way off? No boost leaks?