Tom91RS

I need some suggestions.

91 RS has sat in my cold Michigan garage for about a month now. We had to replace the front end which someone wiped out before Christmas. I have finished the body work and now it won't start. It has nothing to do with the work I did because I did start it once prior to getting real cold. Hasn't ran since. I have replaced the coil and battery. It turns over strong just won't fire. I did pull a plug and cheched for spark, good spark and the plug was dry. There is a smell of gas so I think that is ok.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

89RsPower!

is this the tbi in your info there? have someone crank it for you and watch the spray from the injectors.. should be a nice steady conical spray.. have u tested the fuel pressure? have u tried having someone crank it while you sprayed the tb with starting fluid or misted it with some gas or anything? more info man.. she aint dead yet!

Tom91RS

It is TBI.

I have sprayed starting fluid in it and then tried to start it,but nothing. Should I have someone turn it over while I spray? Should the pedal be floored ?

I have not looked at the fuel spray while being cranked,I will have a look,

Thanks for now, and the encouragement.

ede

if it won't start on starting fluid i'd suspect you have a problem with either spark or compression.

89RsPower!

its normally easiest to start a car with starting fluid while its being cranked with the pedal to the floor while spraying..

ColdGTA

I had the same problem on my truck last winter. Took forever to figure it out. First I would have someone crank it over and then you dump some gas down the throttle body to see if it runs. If it does run then first thing is to check the fuel pressure. that way you know that the fuel pump is working right before you go out and start buying parts. If it checks out then I would suspect the ignition module. Every time I checked my ignition module it check out fine ,but I came to later find out that the injector side of the module would only work sometimes so I was not getting fuel since the injectors were not getting a signal. Normal ignition module testors at the parts store couldn't detect the problem. They kept saying it was fine so I took it to a place that specalizes in auto electronics and they ran a few tests and found that it was bad. That was a relief because I was going crazy tring to trouble shoot it.

Tom91RS

I have spark at the plugs, put a new battery in this weekend, and a new stock coil.

I have just about killed the new battery trying to start it. Tuesday was 39 degrees here in Michigan which I was hoping it would start if something had been frozen. Still no luck.

From all the reading I have been doing about all the sensors and stuff in these cars I feel like I am on a wild goose chase. It seems to be getting gas but it just won't fire. I am going to check fuses tonight which I haven't done yet, however I am not real confident. If that doesn't work can any one recommend a service shop in the Detroit area suburbs would be a good place to have work on it ?

Frustrated with this.

RB83L69

A no-start is about the easiest thing there is to diagnose.

An engine only requires 3 things in order to run: compression; a somewhat reasonable amount of air and fuel; and spark at thie right time.

Since yours is one fo those sudden types of a condition, i.e. it worked fine a month ago and now it doesn't, one can safely assume that only one of the magic ingredients is missing. All you have to do is figure out which one. Attack it logically, not the scatter-gun "it might be this, it might be that" approach; and remember, everything is suspect until proven good, just because something is new or some high-zoot brand, doesn't automatically mean it's good. In fact, if you have any external ignition box such as a MSD or Jacobs or the like, remove it from the circuit and hook the stock system back up, and then once the car is running, plug the other back in and see if the car still works.

You say you have spark.... that eliminates the main parts of the ignition system, such as coil, module, etc.; assuming these are nice big fat snappy purple-blue sparks about 1/16" in diameter, not little weenie orange ones (which won't fire the motor, so if the sparks are like that, then you actually have a no-spark condition). If the sparks aren't the big fat kind, you need to look at the distributorl; module first, then coil. Once you have big fat sparks, if it still doesn't run, move on.

I'd suggest first just changing the spark plugs. Don't bother about how new they are or how they used to work or how much trouble it is; just change them. See if it fires up. If not, try some starting fluid.

Tom91RS

I like the directness,I felt like my dad was talking to me and I am 40.

The plugs are about three months old. If I flooded the car the one original time I tried to start it would it foul the plugs enough to keep it from starting ? I have checked the spark plugs and there is spark, not sure if its the big fat purple blue you speak of. There was a spark however could it be that it is not strong enough if it was fouled ?

Even though it's a pain in the neck to change the plugs I will do it if you think it might be the problem.

RB83L69

Ah, you young whippersnapper.... fresh out of grade school....

When you grow up you'll probably sound like that too when you give people advice!!

bandit454

They could have fouled out from the one time flooding. You can bead blast them or clean them with sandpaper if they are fouled. Most of time a fouled out plug will be wet looking with gas on them. If they are Champion plugs, go get some better plugs, I worked on a car once that they had just put in new Champion plugs and it would not run, it was a 3rd generation vehichle also. I ran around in circles because the plugs looked good and the spary looked good, went and put some good ole AC/Declo plugs in, been running ever since.

89RsPower!

have you tried tryin to start it with the throttle wide open spraying ether yet? if not give it a shot.. if it does then start inspection your fuel system.. I'd recommend cleaning or changing the plugs first though...if it runs while being sprayed then its time to check out the fuel system, if that doesnt work i'd recheck your fuel system.. its tbi correct? when cranking do you see a good conical flow pattern leaving the injectors or are they spitting liquid fuel? if they are you have
1: clogged/dirty injectors
2: clogged fuel filter
3: failing fuel pump, or clogged strainer screen on the pump...
4: not sure if tbi's have em or not but if they do possibly a bad fpr..
what is your current fuel pressure reading while cranking anyway?

how many miles are on this puppy? if its a lot when was the timing chain last replaced?

does it backfire or anything when you try to start it or just do nothing at all?

like said before change or clean your plugs first, check for a good hot sparkand make sure they're all gapped right for your model year..

If starting fluid doesnt work and cranking fp check out and your sure you have good spark then I would next try the timing..
unplug the etc connector and try slowly turning the dist while cranking... see what happens..
Also as probably mentioned before make sure the cap is good (clean contacts on cap and rotor) and have the coil tested...

If still no luck take the dist cap off and turn the engine to tdc on the compression stroke for num 1 cyl and see where the rotors pointing.. if its not pointing at the num 1 cylinder firing position you defently have a timing problem, in thats the case first thing i'd do is pull the dist and inspect the gears since its the easyiest first step.. next i'd pull the waterpump and timing cover and examin the chain, make sure there isnt any slop.. maybe it jumped a tooth or 2.. its possible (new timing set would fix that, but i'd expect backfires if that were the case).. thats about all I can think of right now.. kinda dileariously tired.... might also wanna pull the valve covers and examine the valve opening and closing to insure they're doin there job.. only other thing that involved the dist would be the dist drive gear on the cam, but if thats trashed the dist gear should so some signs of it too...
if none of that gets it goin I'd do a compression test, though that seems very unlikely that it would be the problem with the sudden ness of this...
if all that checks out there is no reason it shouldn't run....
hell as far as spark goes i test fired my last engine on 2 cylinders becaue i only have 2 wires that wernt trashed.. she started.. little ruff idle but thats really all it takes... good luck... sorry for the rant.. just sayin anything and everything i could this of that could be your problem, plus im kinda drunk. Keep us posted

ede

if it flooded there's a very good chance the plugs are trashed. buy and install a new set.

Tom91RS

Hey guys,

I just spent 2.5 hours changing the spark plugs (installed AC's) like you suggested.

The dam thing fired right up, didn't even touch the gas pedal.

This forum is great !

Thanks again