Any theories? I can start it up and it runs and drives as well as it ever does, but when I park it and try to start it again ten minutes later, nothing. Fuel related?

 

And to clarify, the starter works perfectly, the engine will just spin and spin, nothing happens.

 

Also I havent put the fans back in the car. But I doubt its temperature related, because I drive it just around the block, park it and it wont start. Not long enough to get super hot... When I try to start it again, I smell gasoline fumes...

 

check your CTS

 

Pull the engine codes to see if any faults showing

Old injectors leaking fuel maybe , filling the cylinders up with gas?
When it sits over night the fuel evaporates away so you get a clean cold start with no excess fuel

 

It doesnt take a full day for it to start again,so I'm not so sure.

Just put the fans back in and fixed a big water leak. Didnt do anything. Should probably replace thermostat, its at least ten years old.

To give more details, I drive it around the block, and park it. Go to start it again, it spins, then fires briefly as if it was going to start normally, but then just immediately dies. After that, any attempt to start it just makes the engine spin and spin, occasionally catching a little.

Its fuel related it seems, I know I'm getting spark.

 

If you let it set for a minute then try to start it with full throttle and it starts, probably flooding, several causes. minor flooding can be cleared by throttle wide open which allows more air into motor. Let off throttle as soon as it starts though Another option is to pull spark plugs when it wont start and check for any that are wet with fuel.

 

With full throttle it will start, but will die immediately... Maybe it is flooding?

 

If I try to start it with the throttle half way depressed, it will start, and run (somewhat badly) so long as I have the throttle depressed for a little while. After that I can let it go back to closed. So that means that I'm flooding, and that my injectors are bad, yes?

 

Sounds like it, but since injectors aren't cheap, better to verify. Need to get a fuel pressure tester and see how fast you lose fuel pressure. I think there is a tech article on doing this. AutoZone has fuel pressure testers in their loan a tool program.

 

Think I could get away with just doing the O rings for the injectors? I mean the injectors themselves seem to work, the car runs and drives well enough, it just floods...

 

Orings won't affect leaky injectors. o rings just seal them to manifold. the leak is most apparent when car is idling and not using much fuel`. You can let it idle for 30 seconds, then pull plugs and see which are wet to narrow it down

 

Replaced my 02 sensor and Coolant Temp Sensor (both 12 years old(yikes)) and that solved my problem... Thanks guys! (=

 

You might want to check the resistance on the injectors when they are hot.
More often than not that is when the coil fails. Just another thing to rule out.
Anything below 12ohm should be replaced.

 

Just had the same problem with mine. Car has 58000 miles and never thought it could be the injectors...but i was wrong. I had 3 that tested out hot at under 4 ohms and 1 under 10. Definately test them, you can save yourself alot of time. I also bought bosch ones from southbay. Worked perfectly