Engine won't fire up! Options

[X_RunnerGT]

So recently my car stopped wanting to start. I turn the key and the starter cranks continuously,but it won't turn over? I left my key in the ignition, turned, yesterday and it fired up. Once it's started and it's been running for a while it'll start, but now nothing? Any ideas about what I'm dealing with. I've been told the timing belt, the fuel pump, fuses, which from the ones I've checked are all good. Any help would be appreciated...

[HardHead93]

So recently my car stopped wanting to start. I turn the key and the starter cranks continuously,but it won't turn over? I left my key in the ignition, turned, yesterday and it fired up. Once it's started and it's been running for a while it'll start, but now nothing? Any ideas about what I'm dealing with. I've been told the timing belt, the fuel pump, fuses, which from the ones I've checked are all good. Any help would be appreciated...

Usually when your car won't start it is either no spark or no fuel. Before you start replacing parts check your distributor, wires, and plugs. Then test the ignition coil. Then move to your fuel pump and check that. Then check the fuel filter. Do you kinda get where I am going with this? Start simple with your checks before moving onto more complicated parts. If you jump right into looking at your timing belt, it is really going to suck if that is not the problem because now you have put in all this work for nothing. In my situation when that happened to me it ended up being the rotor inside the distributor.

[VavAlephVav]

For yours, an OBDII, you can get an code scanner app for your phone and a small Blue Tooth adapter that plugs into the DIAG port under the hood.
This will let you read the codes. That is the best place to start if you've got some kind of an ignition problem. It could be in the distributor circuit.
The manuals that are online are for the 94-95 ODBI and won't help you too much but this thread http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=93774
gives the codes for the ODBII

One (old fashioned) way to check the fuel system is to take the intake hose off of the throttle body and spray some intake cleaner/ starter fluid down the throttle plate. Then try to start, if it sort of runs for a second that would indicate your problem is likely in the fuel system, like the pump or the relay.

And you can pull one of the spark plug wires off of the spark plug and hold it near the metal of the engine while somebody else turns the key. If you dont see any spark then your problem could be in the distributor.

The other really simple thing to check is the Temperature sensor. Where the radiator hose connects to the engine on top there are a couple of plugs, the one with two wires coming off it is the temp sensor for the computer. Pull the plug and test with an Ohm meter, if the sensor is bad or the wire connections are broken the motor won't even start.

It is also possible that the problem is with the computer itself, if it works one minute but not the next I suspect electronics. It may be worth it to you to buy a factory service manual on Ebay and follow the flow charts. Again, the code reader will help with this.

Good Luck

[X_RunnerGT]

Well I own a code reader and it isn't throwing any codes. That's good advice I'll have to look into all of that.. I pulled one of the plugs yesterday to check for spark and I thought I saw it spark.... Odd thing is when I had the plug and wire pulled it turned over, go figure? Then I pulled all the rest of the the plugs and wires and inspected them, they made need replacing. I had the positive battery terminal removed too. After I reassembled everything it fired up... I let it run for a moment and turned it off and then attempted to start it but nada...

[VavAlephVav]

hmm that makes me think computer.
Bad electronics will work one minute and not the next, and then start working again all depending on what the humidity is like.
It may be worth it to pull the PCM out (it's under the dash in the center). If you open it up and carefully examine the circuit board and components in there with a flash-light there is often some nasty looking gunk oozing out of one of the capacitors.

Or you've got a corroded/broken ground wire somewhere.

[trdproven]

start with basics. try starting fluid to test getting fuel, check for spark,

[lagos]

It sounds like your fuel pump is going out.
Next time it wont start, try to tap on the gas tank to get the pump going. You can do this under the car, or you can lift up the rear sear cushion and use a wrench to give it a good tap or two.

If it starts up, than that's a pretty clear sign of a bad fuel pump.

[X_RunnerGT]

Well that's good to know.... I'll definitely look into replacing my fuel pump... However, today I experienced a new problem. I was driving down the road at about 60 and the car just stalled .... I saw the Check Engine Light (CEL) flicker a few times, but when I went to start it again nothing. It won't even crank. I know the starter, battery, and alternator are good. Also, when I turn the key to the ON position the CEL doesn't come on. All the accessories work. I used my scan gauge to look for trouble codes and there aren't any. Any ideas on what I might be dealing with?

[VavAlephVav]

No CEL light means no power to the ECU or it's just not working. Again intermittent problems where it works one minute and not the next make me think electronics. It would only take <30min to get in there and take that computer out, open it up and examine it. Often if you look close there is some sort of damage you can see on the circuit board of the ECU. If you get lucky you can find somebody with a part-out thread selling one for $50. There are a lot of guys who've swapped out the stock motor for the 3sgte and have the stock computer sitting there in their garage.
And you can get one at a salvage yard pretty cheap as well.

Because you have a '96 you'll be able to use any ECU from a 96-99 ODBII computer as long as it has the same options yours does; 5sfe, manual/auto, cali/fed. It's plug-and-play you don't need to have it programmed by the dealer or any silly horse**** like that.

[chacha]

i' m having issue similar to yours, replaced fuel pump, relay and opening relay circuit, somehow the power not reaching the fuel pump, so my is a wiring issue, but imma take it to the mechanic as i don't know what's happening to the current/electricity. if you have one of those hound tool to scan your open or close (short) wire.