Sometimes it starts just fine, other times it will crank and not turn over. I just wait about a half a minute and then it cranks right up after that. I think it might be a fuel problem. When I sat in my car today I tried cranking it and it didn't turn over. I pop the hood, take of the lid and have my friend turn the key, and presto, it starts right up. Every time I try to see if it's getting fuel on those no start conditions it always cranks, lol. I usually hear the fuel pump and the injectors making their lil' clicking noise. Other than that I don't know what it would be. Tomorrow, I'm doing a compression check in all the cylinders, changing the wires, plugs, cap and rotor. Just wanted to get some opinions on what it might be. I'll be checking into the fuel pump and relay. Good a place as any to start I guess.

 

When was the last time you changed your fuel filter?

 

what about the fuel pump relay? It's only 10 bucks at autozone (yikes)!

 

Just bought the fuel pump relay and will change it this afternoon.
Eric, the fuel filter was changed about 10K miles ago. It's gonna be changed this weekend when I change my oil. I'm pretty sure it's either the fuel pump relay or the filter. Guess I'll find out after this weekend.

 

Do you have VATS??

 

Cranking and not turning over is a sign of a bad starter or more likely bad wires coing from battery to starter. Check them out and clean them, grease em up and see if that solves your problem...I just had the same problem and fixed it yesterday. Car would sometimes start and sometimes feel like the starter wasn't getting enough juice...turns out the contacts were green!!! Baking soda mixed with water will clean it up and while you're at it, poor some of that on your battery terminals.

 

Jon, no corrosions anywhere as far as I can see. I went to crank the car and had a friend start it while I was watching there was no fuel coming out of the injectors. I heard weird noises from the relay too, so I changed that while doing a tune-up. One of my wires was almost burnt to the center as well. After I did the tuneup on the ignition and changed that relay, the car fired right up. I turned it off and took off the cap and there was some kind of buildup on top of the new ignition rotor. Didn't know what that was from so I flaked it off and reinstalled making sure everything was right. I fired up the car again and it appeared that the distributor was slightly shaking. After the car warmed up, it went away. I don't know, maybe I'm just becoming paranoid, lol. I keep the board updated if the problem persists or if new ones arise.

Oh, btw, the car would start before the tune-up if I put it in clear flood mode. I was thinking the computer should be bypassing all sensors including the fuel pump relay so that's how I knew it wasn't the starter or the fuel pump. Thanks again for the help.