Here's the story:

I had to replace my '94 2.2 engine. The new one is from a '93 2.2. Supposedly the new engine only has about 30K miles on it. The pollution control and distributor wiring is different in the replacement engine, but the garage successfully rewired everything. The original engine had a wire form the ditributor to the ignition coil, above the wheel well on the driver's side of the engine compartment. The new (93) engine did not, but the wiring was not such a big job, and apart from having to fix problems (a flex-pipe and two injectors) that apparently arose from the same incident that killed the original engine, it ran just fine and never had a problem starting.

A couple of months later I had to have a mechanic replace the master cylinder, a power steering hose and the O2 sensor. Afterwards, although the car is getting spark and fuel, and the starter cranks just fine, the engine will not catch. The mechanic struggled with it for a week and finally had it towed to an auto electrical specialist.

I am extremely reluctant to hand the car back to the garage that replaced the engine, for a long list of reasons. Please help me out if you can.

- Frank Schmidt

 

Engine needs enough spark (bright & blue), so a weak one will not work (coil?). When car is cold the engine needs a rich mixture - your cold start system may not be giving enough fuel. I would spray starter fluid down the throttle intake then try to see if it starts, if so then I would investigate cold start system. This car may have a separate cold start injector. The engine coolant temp sensor may also be the problem. I would also check compression, the other ingredient for ignition.