My care just stranded me. It started up then died instantly. It wont turn over now, but it cranks and I can hear the fuel pump. The plugs, cap, rotor, alternator, starter, and battery are fairly new.

Any ideas before I drop a ton of money into it?

 

i'm confused how does it not turn over but cranks? sounds like you're saying it's doing something it won't do?

 

I mean the starter is cranking but the motor is not turning over. Like when you flood a car that wont start.

 

Someone at work said the coil could be bad..its an Accell coil but its pretty old(7+ years). Could this be it?

 

why don't you check it for spark instead of having someone on line guess at it. yeah it could be the coil, the ecm, the moduel, and a lot of other things. try trouble shooting just a bit to help us narrow it down.

if it cranks then it does in fact turn over, it's the same thing.

 

I was just looking for suggestions, not an exact science. I thought I did narrow it down by telling you everything thats been replaced. And a car can crank without turning over.

Thanks anyway.

 

You might want to see if you are getting fire. I usually just pull the number one spark plug out since it is easy to get to and have someone turn the motor over and see if there is spark. If you have spark then it's probably not ignition. (If you do this be carefule not to shock yourself). Then check for pressure in your fuel line to see if it's a fuel problem. If you have a carb just smell the primaries for fuel after actuating the accelerator pump. Those are two easy things to check right off.

 

No it cant. Turning over means that the INTERNALS OF THE ENGINE ARE MOVING WHEN YOU TRY TO START IT , CRANKING MEANS THAT THE INTERNALS OF THE ENGINE ARE MOVING WHEN YOU TRY TO START IT. SAME ****ING THING.


STARTING MEANS THAT THE ENGINE RUNS AFTER YOU TRY TO START IT . IT DOES NOT TURN OVER MEANS THAT IT DOESNT MOVE AT ALL , IT DOES NOT START MEANS THAT ITS NOT STARTING.

 

What?!!

 

Anyway..(ahem) the car manged to start later on. I also forgot to mention that I noticed a stumble around 4000 rpm the other night. I ordered an Accell 300+ ignition. The guy from Summit says it bypasses my HEI module too. So that kills two birds. Hopefully this does the trick as every other ignition part has been replaced.

 

Whats so hard to understand? Like ede said you said your car was doing something that it wont do. Cranking and turning over are the same exact thing , so an engine cant crank without turning over. Its like saying this peice of paper wont ignite but it will catch on fire.


Get it?

 

I've posed your opinion to a few people and have gotten mixed reviews. To my understanding, turning over meant that the engine is actually starting and cranking meant it was in the "act of starting.

But thanks of the critique of my inquiry, even though it doesnt help me with my original problem one iota.

 

 

damn this sure was fun. just to be sure i ask my wife, she knows everything. i said "whats it mean when an engine cranks?" her reply was " it turns over but doesn't start". so there you go 100% undisputed proof.

 

That's a great idea asking the wife. You know since I've been married I've been able to sell my set of Encyclopedias, my dictionary, and all my old school books. Since she knows everything I don't need them anymore.

 

Yeah!..the wife..boy thats real funny stuff! woohoo

I asked people who I can speak to frankly about car stuff without the benefit of ridicule...you know, kinda like what I thought I would find on here. But again, thanks for all your great help

 

Turning over but doesn't start means the same as cranking over but dosen't start. Uh Duh!!!!! If you tell someone to turn over the engine he cranks it over/turns it over.Its up to the state of tune if it fires up!/ starts up/runs/ETC. You cannot turn it over but doesnt crank! Figure it outSame meaning.My car runs great but engine doesnt.?Sorry about the nit picking but it is fact.

 

Well, all fun aside, it takes 3 things for a motor to run: fuel in reasonable amounts, spark at the right time, and compression.

It stands to reason that it worked fine at one time, then all of a sudden something changed, and that means it's probably only one thing that's wrong. So, all you have to figure out, is which one of the 3 it is.

Smell the exhaust after you've been trying to start it for a minute, and see if it smells like gas. If not, shoot some starting fluid into the intake and see if it starts. If it does, you've got a fuel problem. If it doesn't, you probably have an ignition problem.

It's all logic.

OBTW I have to agree with the others, crank = turn over. A better choice of words would have been more like "cranks but doesn't start" or "turns over but won't run"; "cranks but doesn't turn over" is an impossible state of affairs in English. Don't forget, this is just the Internet, we can't see the car as well as you, and we can't read your mind. You have to ask a clear question to get a clear answer, and laugh it off if people make fun of your mistakes. That's life.

 

If we look back to the days before starter motors, we'll remember that to start a car we had to crank it manually. In other words, turn the crankshaft.

See those last three words? TURN the CRANKshaft. To crank an engine means to rotate the crankshaft. When we say "turn over", we are referring to the crankshaft rotating.

Whether the end product is the car starting or not, it makes no difference. Turning over and Cranking are one and the same.

We do refer to a running engine as "turning over" sometimes, but turning over does not necessarily mean the engine is running or starting, it simply means the required parts are rotating.

BTW, glad you got the problem sorted out in the end.

Si

 

just my IMHO...

I always used "turning over" to describe at least one of the cylinders firing and the engine rotating partially from that, but not starting, and cranking as it just spinning, with no firing at all or not catching at all.

Oh well.

 

Or I wonder, if it cranks but doesn't turn over, does that mean the motor is melted, and the starter motor's gears are stripped? So the starter is spinning against nothing, and the motor's bearings are melted solid.

Was the motor hot when you tried starting it (and it stranded you)? A burnt out ignition module will let your engine run great when it's cold- but when that module heats up, the motor stalls, and won't start again, until the module cools down. Do you have the remote coil HEI distributor? If you do, I don't think the Accel box replaces your module.

Could also be low fuel pressure. You might want to throw a gauge on it. A pump can still run, but give out pressure that's too low to start a port injected motor.