hi, my car today just started having this strange starting problem where the starter cranks but the engine wont fireup unless i squirt in some starting fluid. After that it runs perfectly fine. But i then have to do it again after the car is off. Anybody have any ideas what could cause this? The car is going up for sale in a local paper in a few days and i certainly hope i can straighten this out before then. Thanks.

 

Sounds like it could be a fuel pump issue. can you hear the pump priming when you turn the key to the on position? if not you might want to try checking the fuses or at most check the fuel pump relay.

a word of caution, starting fluid (ether) is not the best thing to start an engine with, ive been told its a good way to destroy one, might try str8 gasoline.

 

Couple of things that come to mind are maybe the loss of crank singnal, a problem with the injector drivers, or maybe voltage problems. Do the injectors spray at all while cranking.

 

Well there's no spray, and the fuel pump seems to be fine. I can hear it when i turn the car on and it doesnt feel like its starving for fuel at higher rpms so I'm relatively sure the fuel pump is working fine.