I was driving along this morning on a PERFECT weather day, thinking just how great my little car runs. Stopped in to pay my car insurance bill, got back into the car and.....nothing.

The ignition coil has spark, fuel smells from the exhaust, engine turns over and over. It just won't light off and run.

First guess is FI points, any other ideas out there?

Providing you car still has the Fuel Injection and points and condensor in the distrubutor................

Here are the real basic things to check first............

Make sure you hear the electric fuel pump run when you first turn the key. You should hear it buzz for a few seconds when you first turn the ignition on.

Take a piece of a business card and move it up and down between the points contacts. Could be the points are not making contact.

Make sure the ignition wires are making good connection to the plugs, the distributor and the coil.

Good pointers, Steve. Yep, still got all of the original fuel system.

I got spark from the coil wire to the engine tin so that means the points are working (right? no points, no charge to the coil primary, etc). I checked the rotor, cap, etc, and all look fine. they were replaced within the last 2k miles.

I didn't remember hearing the fuel pump make it's usual whirr, that's a good start. If I follow that lead I'll have to check the relay for that as well, yes?

Thanks!

Also check the wires on the coil (the small ones) to be sure they are connected. Then check the wire from the AAR. This seems to be alot of peoples trouble lately. It can short from under the AAR if the coating has worn from the wire. Check it's connection. The AAR, if shorted, will cause the fuel pump from operating. Check the ground strap attached to the tranny and the cluster of grounds below the throttle body. There are so many little things it could be. Hopefully one of these will fix it

........b

An update: the car started briefly then died immediately this morning, the same thing it did to me when it died yesterday. The fuel pump runs fine. The battery is charging since it's been run down pretty low with all the starting attempts.

The intermittent problems are the hardest (read: most expensive and frustrating) to find.

I sure wish I was at the WCC!

It's sounding more and more like your head temp sensor is not working. Make sure the wire coming out of cylinder #3 didn't come loose from the plastic connector that it connects to.

john, if you need some parts to try the "switch 'em" repair technique, i have many. the shop didn't have any luck? now, where's scott....

Sorry to hear about the bad luck with you teener

You said you fuel pump is running but are you getting fuel to the fuel rails? Could one of the lines be clogged? Knock on the tank...you do have fuel

Remove the coil wire COMPLETLY and then remove the clamp/hose from the end of one of the rail and Put the loose ends in a small jar. Now just bump the ignition some to see if you are getting fuel.

Wish I was closer to come and stop by to help. I went through all kinds of trouble wih my d-jet last fall Most of my trouble was with the FI points.

Take out your FI points and clean the contacts. Get a Multi-meter and make sure you are getting solid contacts on both sides.

I have a spare set if you want to try them in your let me know.


Cheers
Kerry

A light shot of starting fluid in the throttle body would be a good test. If it starts that would prove it's a fuel issue. If it still doesn't start then it is an ignition issue.

Thanks to all, looks like it was the fuel injector points after all. A little cleaning and adjusting and all's well again.

Good Work

Ya know, these little bastards can be sooooo frustrating, but MAN, there's nothing quite like the feeling of sorting out some puzzling problem, and getting back on the road.

You got that right!

Thanks, all, for good ideas. Why would the temp head sensor cause the car not to run? That wasn't the cause but I'm still curious to know.



john

John, if you're running FI, bookmarking this site by pbanders is a must.

http://members.rennlist.com/pbanders/

VERY informative and detailed
He also includes links to other FI related information.

I hope I get this right but I believe if the head temp sensor is shorted to ground the computer will think the engine is Red Hot even if the engine is Ice Cold. This would make the engine very, very difficult to start.