97 gt 2.2, Runs great, then won't start, then runs great Options

[barefuter]

Hey. So I just got this 2.2 gt 6 months ago. I love the car. It runs like a top..... except when it doesn't start. It's happened about 6 times now. I've got spark but no fuel when it happens.
It will turn over until the battery dies. One time it started with starting fluid sprayed into it, but that has not worked again. I did get it to the mechanic once and by the time he got it.. it started fine.
It would seem after a couple hours that whatever the problem is it self resolves and the car runs fine again. I'm stumped and I don't want to spend a lot buying throttle sensor, crank sensor, ecm or so on.
Has anyone ever had this problem? How did you fix it? Any ideas would be great.
thanks

[Bitter]

I would suspect a failing fuel pump, it's easy to replace on a guess.

A quick and dirty test would be to pull the back seat and take the access panel off under the cushion and bang on the top of the tank with a hammer while someone cranks the engine, if it suddenly starts and runs then the pump was stuck because the innards are going bad, likely a dead spot on the commutator or one of the wires connecting to the rotor coil has broken. When it happens to land on that spot it may not make contact through the motor and won't spin, then later jostling around or cooling off or heating up it will make contact again.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Mar 26, 2017 - 7:49 PM

[Box]

x2 fuel pump.

[barefuter]

Thank you for that info. Now i just need it to happen and be ready. Or just replace fuel pump. We'll see.


addendum later same day...
Just switched out fuel pump. I hope this works. Only 99 bucks and 45 mins to do .

This post has been edited by barefuter: Mar 27, 2017 - 5:28 PM

[Smaay]

under the hood is a small box that says diagnostics. stick a wire between +B and FP. you should hear the fuel pump running. try starting the car with the jumper wire in. if it dont start its most likely the fuel pump

[barefuter]

Well I thought the fuel pump was the fix but again my car did the suprise "won't start" however it still starts and runs awesome later that day .
Wouldn't start the other day so I banged around by the ECM and it started instantly. So I took the lower dash apart so I had access to the ECM for next time. Then it happened again but jiggling the ECM connections didn't help. Came home later and it started. I'm totally perplexed. Could the ECM do this? Is it possible a fuel pump relay could do this? I dunno..

[Box]

If I recall correctly the fuel pump relay is around the ECM, so banging around the area and it starting would be a telltale sign.

[barefuter]

I forgot that I had checked for spark again with my neighbor while it wasn't starting. Confirmed no spark. WTF could be so intermittent with starting and then run so good?? I'll keep troubleshooting when it happens. It just did it again. No start for 3 hours and then it starts fine.

[Bitter]

Igniter can do that. No spark when hot is the usual thing those do. But so can cam or crank sensors. You need a noid light to see if you've got injector pulse or not in addition to no spark.

[Smaay]

check your wires at the distributor and crank position sensor. both those will cause no spark