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[charly]

So, here is the story.

Driving home one night I filled the tank up with gas. Drove the 15 miles home and shut down for the night. Going to work at 8am and 20 degrees F, tried to start, no go. Starter turns engine over and initially it would grumble and die out. Sounded to me like lack of fuel and guessed that the fuel lines were frozen.

It's warmed up in the month since and still no start. Now car wont even grumble, just crank and crank.

So far I have:

Tested fuel pressure, filter, pump, pump relay, injectors, csv, cranking with starting fluid, and ignition switch was replaced a month before this.

Tested entire ignition system as outlined in haynes, every component checked out OK. and even have spark when i plug a spare plug into leads and crank. Spark seemed fine and yellow. replaced dist. rotor and cap as I had spare ones.

Haven't checked timing (car was running fine before i shut it down and belt is good), aux air valve, or drained fuel tank.

Extra details:

sometimes backfires, but I am worried I got my lines mixed up on dist cap. OOF. will straighten out an check timing while at it.

Reaplaced pump relay with new spare, and pump will not run when ignition switch turned to on. Jumpered relay and pump runs. hmm.


Any suggestions? Feeling a little muddy now.

C

[Ian89C4]

Test the fuel for water? Could be bad gas...

Check all over for any vacuum leaks?

To check the AAV, just pull the air line running from it to the intake manifold off of the intake, and she should start. If she does start she will idle very high, so you won't want to let her run for very long. (I have trouble checking electrical stuff so I find other ways to check things....)

I don't see how it could have slipped time in one night? I would imagine that you would have heard it slip in the morning when you tried to crank it ( I had it happen on a Camry one time and it was a pretty loud 'pop' when the belt let go.)
_________________
Ian Edgerly
North Carolina

Current:
1981 924 SCCA/ChampCar Weissach Race Car ("Serenity")
1987 924S ChampCar Endurance Car ("Der Weg")
1980 924 Euro ("Wahala")

[charly]

I've been looking for vacuum leaks as I go and haven't noticed anything. Suppose I should do some real looking. would it not start because of one? i imagine it would just run rough. maybe the cis is more dependent on vacuum than i realize.

I'm planning on draining the gas this weekend but wonder if it will end up being the problem since it didn't start with starting fluid. also didn;t notice any water in the fuel that came out during the pressure test.

Beginning to wonder about the ignition switch. I replaced it not too long ago, but since the fuel pump wont run with the new relay (only jumpered) and even tho the starter cranks, could it be failing some way i'm not considering?

Agree with you about the timing, belt is still there looking good anyway!

suppose this is how you learn about a car!