Car Starting Problems

Lift up the engine cover (under the passenger front seat) by the two hinges and support the engine cover with the clip on the left hand side (should be attached to seat with a bracked on the seatbelt pillar to hook onto).

Battery should be clearly visable. Just connect your postive and negative to the battery (make sure you get it right!) and dont let the wires touch each other and your away!

Many vehicles are equipped with a safety mechanism that requires you to press the brake pedal in order to shift out of park. Sometimes the release switch on the brake pedal wears or otherwise becomes out of adjustment, sometimes the switch fails and sometimes the release solenoid fails.

There are several GM alts that can be converted. Later model units will each need A wiring diagramn. If you are using the '75 and up to the mid '80's alt. It has one large lug on the back that has A nut on it. This is for the charge to the battery, There are two spades side by side on the side near the back. You will need to connect A wire to the one farthest from the battery lug and connect the same wire to the battery lug. The spade that is left will need to go to the extra post on the starter, the one that is NOT for the solinoid wire. I know this sounds confusing, If you can't figure it out after reading it A couple times, Contact me in my message board.

map sensor is located on the upper intake on the passenger side near the back.

Hi, The fuel filter is located in front of the gas tank on the right side of the car on the frame member. Because the car is fuel injected, you need to relieve fuel pressure first. 1.Engine must be cold. 2. Place transmission in neutral. Apply parking brake and block wheels. 3. Detach wiring harness connector from the fuel pump relay, located under the left-hand side of the instrument panel near the ECM. 4. Remove the gas cap to release fuel vapor pressure in the gas tank. Reinstall the gas cap. 5. Start the engine and run it until it stops from lack of fuel. Crank the engine 2 or 3 times for 3 seconds each time. the fuel system should now be depressurized. 6. After servicing the component (s) reattach the wiring harness to the fuel pump relay. You kind of need a set of ramps or be able to park it over a place so you can get at it easily. Spray a bunch of WD-40 or Marvel Mystery Oil or some kind of rust loosener on the bolts and the ends of the fuel lines and be patient, go have a cup of coffee or a soda and rest for a while then go and try. I hope you're sucessful and this helps. Steve H.

If it only occurs when the engine is cold or the weather is extremely cold, be suspicious of water vapor... it's a natural occurance during the combustion process. If the white vapor goes away when the engine warms up, no problem. If the smoke is blue-ish, it's probably engine oil. Check to see if you're getting fuel into the oil. That can cause the oil to thin and get past the rings, then the motor oil doesn't burn as cleanly and can leave the blue/grey smoke. That can be caused by dirty injectors that do not vaporize the fuel but sends it out in a stream, then the liquid fuel seeps past the rings to mix with the oil.

A bad freeze plug will leak coolant and cause the engine to overheat.

As long as you can get the car to power up (the lights and accessories come on in the RUN/Battery position), you can plug in a diagnostic scanner in and retrieve fault codes. You do not need the engine running.

If the car cannot power up, then the computer cannot turn on and the scanner cannot access the fault codes. In this case, you need to find out why the car isn't getting power before you can use the computer to diagnose any problems.

You should never drive a car around for long after jump starting a dead battery. This puts an enormous strain on the alternator. Alternators are designed to keep a good battery charged, not to charge a dead battery. You can easily burn out a diode in the alternator. Jump start the engine and drive it somewhere and connect a battery charger to the battery and charge it fully.

Make sure connections are on tight.

If it doesn't start, there's no way you can do it with a timing gun or any electronic device. If you suspect the car is not starting because the timing is off, you can set #1 piston at Top Dead Center and remove the distributor cap to see if the rotor is pointing to the #1 spark plug wire tower. If the rotor does not point directly at the #1 tower, loosen the distributor hold-down just enough to manually rotate the distributor until the rotor and #1 tower line up and try to start the engine - the procedure described sets the timing close enough so that the engine will start. From there you can proceed to set the timing with a timing gun or other electronic device. For lack of such equipment, and for temporary service, you can slowly rotate the distributor in both directions until you get the best "purr" of the engine.

If the Chrysler Sebring won't start after going through a puddle, the problem is probably that the starter relay switch got wet. This is not a common thing but if the starter relay was bad to begin with, moisture will make the problem worse. The starter relay is located on the starter.

On the Lexus it is designed to give you so many seconds to roll up the electric window or close the moonroof even with the key turned off, then it starts beeping at you to let you know that this feature will soon deactivate. It has to do with arming the alarm, so there is nothing wrong with you car.

I've got an 87 CRX and had the same problem. It started by just dying on the road, but would start back up. The problem got worse until eventually it just cranked over and over but did not start. I went nuts checking all the obvious...coil, distributor, fuel pump. Somebody told me on some CRX models there is a fuel cutoff valve in the event of a wreck. I don't have one on mine but you may have one bad on yours. I eventually tracked my problem down to the ignition switch. It provide power to the starter for cranking, but as soon as the key was released, it lost electrical contact. Hope some of this helps. Good luck.

xxboixx : Just try jump starting it.

If your car is a Saturn or any orther gm it could eb your bcm(body control module) it is a stupid thing gm put in their vehicles to completely control everything electronic if it fails your car can just die while running if you have power windows and locks the would start going crazy your trunk could open if if iss electric and it can make your car seem like it has a completely dead battery even if it if fully charged. if it is a Saturn the module in in the dash behind the stereo but even if you change it yourslef you have to go to the dealer to get it programed abotu $500 job

Test it by finding the cylinoid, using something metalscrew driver, etc. and cross it on the hot and negative posts of the cylinoid, if the car starts the cyliniod is bad,if it does nothing, the starter is bad or a wire is loose..NOTE : If car is manual, (5 or 6 speed) make SURE car is in neutral and the parking (emergency) brake is ON !! or else the car migh "jump" "go" and run over you while doing this...

There are two basic ways to do this. The first one, turn the engine over with the starter motor untill the air lock goes away. Second, if this does not work you may have to bleed the fuel system, usually at the carburetor. With sufficient fuel in the gas tank and the fuel pump in good shape, the block should go away using bleeding and turning over the engine. In rare cases of mechanical obstruction the carburetor has to be removed and compressed air forced through the fuel lines.

positive goes to the battery and negitive goes to a ground clamp on the frame..

Many Fords of that vintage required that a jumper be placed on a socket near the distributor. Without the jumper in place it's not possible to change the timing of the engine.

Install the jumper, set the timing with a timing light THEN remove the jumper and it should stay.

You'll need to get a reference manual to identify the jumper location and to determine the proper timing advance settings.

• I own a shop, and have seen this many times. What has happened is this; When its allowed to run completely out of fuel, the pump then looses its prime, and must be ran manually in order to get fuel pressure back up on the fuel rail, or it won't start. There are two ways to do this; One: you can find the wire that is behind the brake booster or around the fender on the drivers side near the back. It will be a red wire that has an end on it that looks like a plug, but its not plugged to anything. This is what this wire is for, so you will need to hook 12 volts to it, and you will hear the fuel pump come on. Allow it to run for about 10-15 seconds, and unhook it. The engine should now start & run fine. Second: you can purchase a spray can of carb/choke cleaner at a parts store, remove the air cleaner hose going to the intake/throttle body. Hold the throttle wide open, and spray about 4-5 seconds directly into the throttle body. Move the can back, and start the engine. It will run for a few seconds, and stall again. Repeat this until it runs on its own.

  Glad to help out, Good Luck!!!

If you have water on your spark plugs you have a serious problem. That is coolant you see and not water. You have a blown head gasket or cracked head. This engine will self destruct if you continue to drive it. Have this repaired ASAP and stop driving it until you do.

My RV Chevy engine V8 454 has 43000 miles , til now inewer had a problem, my last trip was a horror,

after 50miles the engine begin to cought and misfiring on the muffler, and it was not running round

The starter solenoid receives a large electric current from the car battery and a small electric current from the ignition switch. When the ignition switch is turned on, a small electric current is sent to the starter solenoid. This causes the starter solenoid to close a pair of heavy contacts, thus relaying a large electric current to the starter motor, which in turn sets the engine in motion.

Well lets see, if the spark plugs are wet that means there is gas getting there. But, on other hand there could be something wrong with your spark plugs. Meaning..... there is a electrical problem or your spark plugs are shot and you need to get new ones.

Hope this helps.

requires the ignition key lock and unlock drivers door this should reset the alarm. i found that it only works on passenger s door and only turning toward back seat looking for an easier way running around the truck really bites

check ur distibutor cap and rotor bug pull a spark plug see if its getting fire then make sure ur getting fuel to the carb