engine wants to start but won't....now what

[JOEMACH]

Ok, I'm trying to breath life into an LS that was off the road for about a year.......the motor cranks and sounds like its gonna catch but it won't.....I put fresh fuel in it, I have no codes,.....now what......I was gonna do a fresh set of plugs, but I don't know if I should do the COP's as well.....I don't want to dump money in the wrong places so if there are any suggestions or of someone has experienced this....please send me some suggestions.
BTW it is a 2000 ls V8 with about 85,000 miles on it.

thanks

Joe

 

[drag214]

When you crank it, is there any smoke from the exhaust? No smoke means no fuel.

 

[#1fordfan]

give a good shot of starting fluid in the intake and let her rip. dont change plugs, waste of time

 

[Lincoln Jealous]

wow..........

if the car was sitting for a year,

where was it sitting? outside durring rain snow cold weather?

i would say maybe the starter is bad

 

[#1fordfan]

he said it cranks and almost fires. make sure the battery is fully charged and the oil level is OK and try the starter fluid.

 

[JOEMACH]

Well I did the plugs, and they were pretty bad, no oil just carbon fouled......but I think I've been "taken".

I finally got it to sort of run and it sounds like it got only a couple of cylinders firing, then it dies......I have a bad feeling it may be the timing belt........unless this thing has a crank sensor that has gone bad........or maybe the coils are shot.......not sure where to go on this one or what to check next.

The condition of the car is amazing but this is really throwing me.

 

[Lincoln Jealous]

Well I did the plugs, and they were pretty bad, no oil just carbon fouled......but I think I've been "taken".

I finally got it to sort of run and it sounds like it got only a couple of cylinders firing, then it dies......I have a bad feeling it may be the timing belt........unless this thing has a crank sensor that has gone bad........or maybe the coils are shot.......not sure where to go on this one or what to check next.

The condition of the car is amazing but this is really throwing me.

could be injectors

 

[joegr]

Well I did the plugs, and they were pretty bad, no oil just carbon fouled......but I think I've been "taken".

I finally got it to sort of run and it sounds like it got only a couple of cylinders firing, then it dies......I have a bad feeling it may be the timing belt........unless this thing has a crank sensor that has gone bad........or maybe the coils are shot.......not sure where to go on this one or what to check next.

The condition of the car is amazing but this is really throwing me.

No timing belt, four chains instead. Chain guide failure is not unheard of in the gen I LS V8.
I would start with a compression test of each cylinder before throwing more money at it.

 

[Outkast]

fuel filter....

 

[1LoudLS]

is the PATS light (red led on the center of dash next to windshield) blinking while you are cranking it, if so there is either a problem with the key not being programmed or the PATS system is not recognizing the correct key and not allowing the car to start

the PATS light should light up and not blink while you turn the key on and while you are starting the car,

EDIT: whoops, i missed the part where you finally got it to fire up, disregard above

 

[SoonerLS]

If it had been sitting outside that long, get under the hood and look for rat nests and chewed wires. I had that happen to my SHO within a couple of weeks--the little bastards chewed though part of the main engine wiring harness.

Absent chewed wires, I'm thinking this sounds more like a fuel problem than a spark problem. As noted above, replace the fuel filter and try again. Also, check the fuel pressure; there should be a schraeder valve on the fuel rail for this purpose, but I don't know what PSI your gauge should show. I'm guessing 40psi or more, but someone around here should have the correct number.

It's also possible that the engine is getting too much fuel. When it's stumbling, does the exhaust coming out of the tailpipes have a strong smell of gasoline? Try starting with the accelerator on the floor; if it'll start that way, you almost certainly have leaking injectors (not a terribly uncommon 1st Gen problem), and they're flooding the engine (starting with the gas pedal mashed tells the PCM to use the strategy for a flooded engine). If that's the case, you want to get it fixed before you try much else, because the raw fuel will destroy the catalytic converters.

 

[JOEMACH]

If it had been sitting outside that long, get under the hood and look for rat nests and chewed wires. I had that happen to my SHO within a couple of weeks--the little bastards chewed though part of the main engine wiring harness.

Absent chewed wires, I'm thinking this sounds more like a fuel problem than a spark problem. As noted above, replace the fuel filter and try again. Also, check the fuel pressure; there should be a schraeder valve on the fuel rail for this purpose, but I don't know what PSI your gauge should show. I'm guessing 40psi or more, but someone around here should have the correct number.

It's also possible that the engine is getting too much fuel. When it's stumbling, does the exhaust coming out of the tailpipes have a strong smell of gasoline? Try starting with the accelerator on the floor; if it'll start that way, you almost certainly have leaking injectors (not a terribly uncommon 1st Gen problem), and they're flooding the engine (starting with the gas pedal mashed tells the PCM to use the strategy for a flooded engine). If that's the case, you want to get it fixed before you try much else, because the raw fuel will destroy the catalytic converters.

I havent found any chewed wires but you may be on to something, the only way I got it to start at all was with my foot to the floor...... then I let off and it chugged to a stop........I'll try it one more time, keeping an eye on the exhaust.....If it is a injector problem I'm sure it'll be stinking of raw fuel.

I can always hope for the best senario.