HELP!! Car Not Starting.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by hunds02

anyone have any clues to my last post? Still have not heard from the mechanic, they didn't even get to my car yesterday...

Appreciate any help I can get! Maybe I should have started a new thread...

For a gasoline engine to start you need fuel, compression, and a spark from the spark plug. You can test for fuel at the fuel rail with a pressure gauge. Just because you have pressure at the fuel rail doesn't mean the engine is getting fuel.

You will also need to test for a injector pulse to the injectors. The injector pulse signal the injector to open so that fuel can be injected into the intake manifold. A noid light attach to one of the injector connector will confirm if you are getting an injector pulse.

I am assuming that the engine is healthy so unless you were having problems before you can skip the compression test.

Last but not least, are you pumping the accelerator when you try to start the engine? If you are, you most likely flooded the engine and no amount of cranking is going to un-flood the engine. Spark plugs will have to be removed and dried out, the cylinder will have to be dried out.

[hunds02]

Originally Posted by upallnight

For a gasoline engine to start you need fuel, compression, and a spark from the spark plug. You can test for fuel at the fuel rail with a pressure gauge. Just because you have pressure at the fuel rail doesn't mean the engine is getting fuel.

You will also need to test for a injector pulse to the injectors. The injector pulse signal the injector to open so that fuel can be injected into the intake manifold. A noid light attach to one of the injector connector will confirm if you are getting an injector pulse.

I am assuming that the engine is healthy so unless you were having problems before you can skip the compression test.

Last but not least, are you pumping the accelerator when you try to start the engine? If you are, you most likely flooded the engine and no amount of cranking is going to un-flood the engine. Spark plugs will have to be removed and dried out, the cylinder will have to be dried out.

Thanks for your comments.

Interesting note about the injector pulse. I will relay the info to the mechanic shop. Can you elaborate a little bit about the "Noid light"?

Regarding the compression, I haven't checked it ever but the engine runs smooth and no performance symptoms or misfires, so will probably skip the compression test until later.

When I was trying to get it to start I recall I may have tapped on the accelerator, however, when the problem first occurred I did not depress the pedal, just turned the key until it eventually started. So while I may have a flooded engine now, it did not cause the issue to occur initially.