Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0 (Post 3206294)

This sounds like it is all electrical. The bitch of it is diagnosing.


If you crank the motor with a pulled spark plug and see it sparking, and if you have replaced everything in that category then you know you are good. What do the spark plugs look like? Are they dry or soaked with fuel?


If you have fuel delivery then it should hiccup at minimal. I don't know if spraying some fuel in the intake manifold like spraying fuel down a carburetor to help get it going would be worth a try. If it was an individual injector that was the problem then it seems like it would hiccup as well, but you are having a dry crank. If there is a failure on the injector side then it would have to be further upstream and not at individual injectors unless they all got fried or failed at the same time--unlikely. Could you use a multimeter to make sure you have power going to your fuel injectors? If not then work backwards until you find power.

Originally Posted by Ashikabi (Post 3206297)

I haven't checked the plugs for soakage this time around. Went straight to electrical since I already replaced the main relay (supplies power to injectors and pump) which presumably fixed the lack of pulse to the injectors (previous no start)

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0 (Post 3206315)

If they are soaked then you know you have some fuel, so it is probably spark. If they are dry then you probably have a fuel issue.


Could the relay have failed again? Could a grounded wire from the relay change be disconnected/loose? A multimeter could really help with demonstrating basic power to these areas.

Originally Posted by DandoX (Post 3206399)

Just throwing this out there, sorry if you mentioned this already but did you test the battery voltage and made sure your battery terminal is not corroded? I had a BMW that had a similar issue in the past, fixed it by simply cleaning the terminal connecting points of corrosion.

Originally Posted by Ashikabi (Post 3208568)

Checked engine wire harness today. No apparent damage anywhere. Post on the alternator broke off (of course) so now I ordered one of those. If it runs when that's in, I'll go until it dies again. Otherwise I'll replace the fuel pump and see what happens

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0 (Post 3208614)

The alternator only charges the battery, but you should be able to drive for three miles with no alternator, so I don’t think that would fix your issue.



I would pull a spark plug and have someone turn over the motor and check for spark. If that is good then I would pull the fuel rail feed line, get a bucket and a hose and test for fuel output. If you lack output then check the line going to the fuel pressure regulator. If no output, and you said you replaced the fuel filter already, then consider the fuel pump. You can pull the pump and bench test it in a bucket or just replace it.



Fuel, compression and spark. The basics should be easily diagnosed.

Originally Posted by Ashikabi (Post 3208672)

I know the alternator went fix it. I went to test without it yesterday but I had a blown fuse too so I called it a night. I know the pump flows, at least it did because it generated pressure and coughed gas all over my engine bay when I was testing a while back. If it's reliably putting out enough pressure is the question.. So I guess in that, it could be the regulator or the pump. I'll check spark again just to be sure it's still there

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0 (Post 3208749)

If all a person has to do to get an engine to start to fire up is spray a mist of fuel down some carburetors then any fuel delivery should be enough to have the engine sputter, at minimum. If you are having a dry crank then there is zero spark, zero compression and/or zero fuel.



If you think you have fuel delivery then buy a $35 endoscope on Amazon and put it down your intake manifold to verify the injectors are firing if you don’t want to pull them to bench test them. And definitely pull a spark plug and turn over the motor to check for firing. Check it to see if it is soaked or dry too after attempting to start the car.

Originally Posted by Ashikabi (Post 3208754)

During previous tests for the same symptoms, it turned over on starter fluid

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0 (Post 3208827)

If it turned over, meaning it sputtered when making a few combustion strokes then that means your spark is probably fine. It is likely fuel delivery then. This could be an electrical failure at the fuel injectors, a fpr regulator failure or a fuel pump failure.