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I'm guessing that the car turns over OK, but just won't start.
In order for a car to run, there are 4 things needed; Fuel, Fire (spark) Compression and Air.
If any one of these components is missing, or if it's ratio is incorrect, the car may or may not run at all.
How was the car running before it stopped starting? Any problems? Performance OK?
I'd try to get the car to a diagnostic center and let them put it on the computer. This will save you possibly chasing your tail. You might also beg borrow or steal a code reader just to see if your car's computer is "throwing" codes. This might be revealing, but not necessarily.
If you decide that you want to have at it yourself, I think I'd start by checking for spark. It costs nothing and is easy. Just pull the plug wires one by one and hold them (with an insulated tool) so the contact inside the wire is close to, but not touching the spark plug. Have someone turn the car over for a few seconds. If you have spark, you should hear an arcing sound between the plug and the wire. This is a good thing. Check each plug. This pretty much eliminates a "fire" problem. If you don't hear those wires arcing, you DO have a fire problem, probably the coil pack(s).
Next, take apart the air cleaner box and check the filter. If it's badly soiled or oil soaked, replace it. Also check for crud in the box or in the tube that goes from it to the air inlet.
If you didn't have any major malfunctions before the car began to not start, like a major overheating issue, or really poor performance, I wouldn't expect that you have a blown head gasket. (compression loss if it's leaking)
Replacing the fuel filter is a cheap and easy thing to do. If you haven't done this recently, I'd throw a new one on just "because". Beyond that in the fuel injection system, I'm not sure how to check for the presence of fuel, but if you pick up a Haynes or Chilton manual for the car, it will tell you ow to do that. (there IS gas in the car, right?)
It could be that your car has a bad computer. As far as I know, this is beyond what we can check ourselves. Refer back to my diagnostic center suggestion.
Good luck and stop back if you have more questions or need more help.
FriPilot
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
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