Is there anyone who knows where the white wire with a little rubber plug on it goes? It is in the same group of wires as the starter cables and goes within a foot of the starter. I'm pretty sure it doesnt go to the starter.

FYI
I bought this 1989 Formula with a tpi 305. I test drove it for two hours, the transmission shifted perfectly and it ran great. I rallied it a little to see if it could handle it and it performed well. Later that night it overheated on me. I replaced the water pump, thermostat, coolant temp sensor, and all hoses and fluids. The car would not start after that. It cranks for days. I replaced the spark plugs, distributor cap, iacv, fuel filter, tested the ICM, fuel pressure @ 46psi. Will start with starting fluid, runs rough at low rpms, stays running as long as I want but won't start immediately after or when it's cool. Please help me!!!!
Thanks

 

If no one knows.... As to the little white wire, factory service manual sets and factory wiring diagram manuals would have this in it if it was a factory wire, However these books are designed to be used starting with the description of a problem!

So you can't look in these books and find a cable and then see an explanation of what each wire is for in that cable.

They do give drawings of what is located where, but it is hard to see exactly what is going to what.

Probably your best bet would be to go to a wrecking yard and hopefully find a similar vehicle with the engine still in it and see where it goes.

Or if all else fails, find someone else with the same vehicle and ask nicely if you can see where their wire goes!

As to starting....

Fuel? Spark? Air?

Fuel: While starting, have someone spray starting fluid into the throttle body. If you get a response, then fuel problem.

Spark: Check for spark.

Air: Slightly press on the accelerator. This bypasses the IAC valve and lets air in.

Also with these starting problems, be sure to keep your battery fully charged with a battery charger. Electronic gizmos will not work under 9 volts. So you might be cranking and cranking, then fix the problem, then it still does not start, but this time because the battery is too low!

 

I am not 100% but check between your 6 & 8 cylinders on the head, there is supposed to be the fan switch. I know the sensor uses a single wire and I want to say its white. Don't worry about not having the connector because they break easy and autoparts stores stock them.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I will update when problem is fixed. As for the car not starting, fuel pressure is @46psi at the shrader valve. Can I have good fuel pressure and have bad injectors? Also is there a trick to timing the engine with the car running? I can turn the distributor and it runs great at 1500 rpms and up but below that it is really rough and will not drive.

 

As for the timing, if you have an engine computer, the timing is controlled by the computer and various sensors connected to the computer are a component of what the timing is. There would be sensors for...

Crankshaft position
Engine speed (RPM)
Engine load (manifold pressure or vacuum)
Atmospheric (barometric) pressure
Engine coolant temperature

So if the timing is not right, check the above sensors for proper operation. Testing for these sensors would be in a factory service manual set. Some factory service manual sets have a separate Fuel and Emissions book which gives all the testing and troubleshooting instructions for these.

Then there is a base timing for the distributor and instructions for this would be in the factory service manual (distributor replacement section) along with an emissions sticker under the hood. There would probably be a proceedure for disabling the computer for setting this.

As to can fuel injectors be a problem too? There is a heck of a lot of things involved with a fuel system. Here is all about that...
http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/june98/techtotech.htm