WTF? Wont start.. .odd one.

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unity

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Ok. You all know that I know these cars pretty well. So no n00b suggestions or I will post naked pic of myself! :P

Started car. Fired up fine. Drove a short distance to gas station. On the way there twice the car cut out for half a second. Power inside, radio, etc, was fine.

Get to station, fill up and try to start car. Turns over fast, but not a hint of any gas going off. Keep trying, nothing. Unplug-replug both cam and crank position sensor. Nothing til I eventually drain battery. Also holding WOT to kill injectors. Get a jump start and it fires up on first try. Odd.

Hoping it was a one time thing I drive to a dog park and let the pooch play for an hour or more. Car will not start again. Same stuff. Pull all fuses, relays, diode, etc. Reset everything. Even load a new ECU program. Get a guy to jump start me, does not start. But after may attempts and unplugging stuff, it fires up.

Get to work to trade cars (abandon the Mark). Shut off Mark then try to start and it starts. Now a day later I try to start and again it starts, even three times.

When it runs, it runs great. Smooth as glass, tons of power off the line and at WOT.

So symptom: car cuts out quickly when driving (although that only happened first trip to gas station). Cranks fast but wont usually start. Now it starts. Power and grounds checked over twice. I even have a multiple ground setup.

Any fricken idea? Im stuck with this fugly VW beetle that is as yellow as one get get til I trust the Mark again.
 
Terminal clean. Power and negative cable good? Maybe cable are lose or somehow spliced.
 
Ok. You all know that I know these cars pretty well. So no n00b suggestions or I will post naked pic of myself!


Karma?

no matter what, that sounds electrical/connection related

post the nude photo-we're all up for a laugh:D:D
 
I thought you were banned.

Anyway. All the connections look good and feel secure. Now if it IS an electrical connection, I would think that the interior electronic would get interrupted and the starting issue would be intermittent - but it ALWAYS cranked just fine. And with a jump start I do negative on block, positive on relay box terminal - since battery is in trunk.
 
Do yo have gas in the tank? :)

Seriously, sounds like a fuel pump issue. Do you have fuel spray at the schrader valve? Or does it dribble out?
 
banned? for what, NOT having thousands of inane posts here?

seriously, a brief or extended failure to run/start would have to be electrical in nature since it is intermittent-like a bad connection. Because it does not seem to affect the electrical system inside he cabin, maybe a bad connection at the starter or starter relay? ECU getting cranky? I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that you have some issue with your battery or connections, even the alternator.
You being anti-noob, know that electrical systems on these 12 to 17 year old cars are getting on in years, and the 100 miles of wire in them are prone to cause problems as time goes on. It sounds like you've had your's in pieces many times, maybe once or twice you had a bad day and missed something.:eek:

That gets back to that Karma thing. :p Good luck.
 
I thought fuel also since it would make more sense. But pressure at the rail is high although I have not had time to hook up a pressure reader. Pump was put in last year, new Walbro 255.

Fuel seems most probable at this point though since all the electrical is less than a few years old at most.
 
1bad4.6l said:
My crankshaft position sensor did this.
Click to expand...

Same here, but it was actually the wiring that somehow wound up riding against the AC compressor pulley after we pulled out the compressor to tighten the fittings. Same exact thing almost to a T. I'd try a new sensor like was mentioned.
 
Ok. I will check the wiring, after all its not factory by any means. Would make sense since when the sensor fails on its own its usually not so sudden.
 
You ruled out fuel.
Next is spark, when its in a no start mode, check for spark at the plug.

If no spark I would replace crank and cam sensors, if your broke replace or replug crank sensor a few times see if spark comes back.

Good luck, as you know....these cars suck.
 
There are only four things that contol spark. The ecu the crank sensor the cam sensor and the ignition module. crank and cam are 20.00 dollar parts the ecu we know is expensive and the module is 200 and some change. I would start with the CSPS.
 
And it took me about two months to get mine to go from an intermittent issue to a total fail. That was when I could finally get it to do it in the shop.
 
^ No ignition module and CAM sensor, what I have been told, only controls injectors.

ECU could be a problem, one never knows. But it flashes fine and data-logs without issue. So from that standpoint, it appears ok.
 
Pull the ignition module out of a running mark and tell me if it fires [spark that is] Hate to say it won't. And yes it does also talk to the injectors.
 
Don't call it that I have 2 of them!! The only real nastiness they have is the placement of the IAC and TPS.
 
good to stockpile ECU's (have 3 extra), VCRM's (have 2 spares) and 2 passenger side/3 driver side IMRC's-96's are getting harder to find in JY's, I lucked out around here in the last couple of years and stockpiled all kinds of stuff off ones I found.
 
Crank harness looks good. Checked everything over well, grounds and such too. I think it may be heat related. Been driving car fine since initial post. Then today it did it again. And again it was a time that I had been driving it but then had it off for a short while. Yet like before, when I got to work I tried starting it and after driving it fired up. Also had one more instance of the car cutting out for a sec.

Gotta be the crank position sensor. Cheap enough that I will just replace it.
 
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