i know this has been beaten to death, and i tried a search but im unsure. I just bought the car last week.
It started out that the car would take two tries to start up. On the second try the car would fire up fine. The first try, the car would fire up, stall and die within seconds. Now today my gf told me that it took her 4 tries to get the car running. could this just be a tune up issue? What could be wrong?

 

Can you hear the fuel pump prime when you turn the key on? If the fuel pump is not priming, then could be a bad fuel pump relay. If the relay doesn't turn the pump on the after a few seconds the oil pressure will build enough to where the oil pressure sending unit will power the pump.

Put ear against gas tank while g/f turns key to run (not starting) and see if you hear the fuel pump prime.

 

Quite possibly it just could be a tune up issue. Any idea how long (if ever) it's been since it had new plugs, wires, etc? I'd say it's a good place to start.

 

yea we can hear the fuel pump prime. I'm gonna try to do a full tune up tomorrow, although the girl who had the car before told me that it wasnt that long ago that the car had new plugs.

 

well the other day the car wouldnt start at all for my gf. A few hours later she came back to it and it started right up. So yesterday i bought a new cap/rotor/plugs/pcv valve. My buddy came over to help with the tune up. The car took numerous times to start up. It started to run crappy. When put into gear, the car would bog out, and have no power, subsequently also backfiring when you press your foot down. So we did the tune up on it. Afterwards, the car would start right up, but still run like crap. We didnt get a chance to change the fuel filter. The car has a relatively new cat, and fuel pump, and injectors. What could be wrong? my buddy said it could be something as easy as timing, or the fuel pres. regulator, or it could be something worse like the fuel pump itself ( eventhough we hear it prime), or a compression issue. It just pisses me off because ive only owned the car a week and already it's dead...

 

You mentioned everything except plug wires - did you change them? Need to if not. And test them for continuity before you install with a volt/ohm meter.

Recheck the firing order - you could have a plug wire wrong.

Inside the distributor there is a ICM (ignition control module) - might try replacing it - they go bad with heat, alot of times they get moisture in there and the plate gets rusty (the plate must make electrical contact) - they come with dielectric grease that must be put on that plate.

 

we looked at the plug wires and they looked fine. Is that icm under the rotor? if that's it, i only got a quick view of it and it looked rusty. we checked the firing order and thats correct. Is the icm under the rotor?