Ran into a strange issue the other day. Went to leave work and started my car up just fine. Threw it in reverse, backed up and put it in drive and it shut off. I have still not been able to get it to start. Got it towed and my uncle (who is a mechanic) is telling me its not firing (i have no clue what this means).

Fuel pump and distributor both are barely 6 months old.
I know this isn't very specific but was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction to at least try to start to solve the problem. Wife and myself both work and share this car.

 

Ok, so apparently it is NOT firing at all (no spark) and the timing belt looks fine (from what im told). I honestly have no clue about anything with cars (as stated in my previous posts) but have been witness to how awesome this community is. . . so im really hoping someone will know. My uncle did pull out a little black square fuse looking thing (ign relay?) saying that its getting extremely hot and someone at autozone mentioned it shouldn't be. Luckily my brother drives a 94 camry and from what ive seen the engine is identical.

As far as I know:
1. Distributor is new (so is the fuel pump) because of the issue I had before.
2. Its turning over like it wants to crank. I really don't know how to explain it, but it seems like it makes 3 regular sounds (like its cranking) and on the fourth one it sounds like it doubles. Im being told that its not something that would be related, but actually normal. (battery has been pretty drained since we've been messing with it). He does have something to charge the battery and after he tested it its not dead (from what im told).
3. All connections seem to be fine (has one of those screw driver things that lights up to check power flow i guess).

I really have no idea where to start, but am hoping someone here can tell me atleast where to start since apparently my car can survive the apocalypse. Ive googled and am seeing numerous things about the car not firing but honestly have no idea what would even be close. . . so I don't really know what to tell him.

 

A few questions:

Does the engine have 4 or 6 cylinders?

The 4 cylinder is an inline 4 (4 spark plugs lined up on 1 cylinder head). The 6 cylinder is V6 having 2 cylinder heads each having 3 spark plugs lined up.

Was the car built to California or Federal exhaust emissions standards. There should be a sticker pasted under the engine compartment hood stating CALIF or FEDERAL.

If a 4 cylinder engine does the distributor cap have 4 or 5 large wires coming out of it? The distributor would be on the drivers side of the upper part of engine. The wires coming out would be horizontal and run to the spark plug areas of the cylinder head and if 5 wires one would run to a coil (looks like a round can).

Typically a no start condition is caused by lack of fuel to the engine or no ignition spark.

Post back with the answers to these questions.

 

there is no spark but when we try u can smell he fuel

 

Im sorry to answer your question its a 4 cyl. Im not sure about the emission standards (although they are required in my county and we passed).

Ill try to get more info. My uncle things its the power control module (ign relay)?

 

It seem you haven't use your car for a long time... some parts may malfunctioned.

 

im sure thats not the case. As stated in my first post me and my wife both work, every day. . . and put around 30 miles on it every day.

My uncle is telling me the distributor is getting fire to up but nothing is coming out of it (whatever that means). The distributor is almost brand new though.

 

I just wanted to update you guys. Seemed to be the distributor. My uncle replaced it and all the wires and its running great (minus the overheating and gear shifter not coming unlocked) which was fixed with a fuse that he probably blew trying to figure out what the issue is. The distributor was only 4 months old so im a tad pissed that I already had to replace another one, but O'Rileys worked with me and gave us a credit for the old one.

I know there aren't alot of helpful posts in this topic, but the last 2 issues I had were answered here, so I still want to give a big thanks to all of you guys!

Now that the car is fixed. . . my wife and myself can get back and forth to work. . . and i can sleep, im gonna stay up all night and play some battlefield 3 and starcraft II.
I don't think the ol' ladies gonna have a problem with it this time :-p

 

you mentioned that distributor is new, you might bought not so good distributor... where did you get the distributor that make your car work?