Help Needed Asap!!! Car Died And Won't Start!

[JeanieBopper85]

Hi there, I am new here, so hello to everyone.

I have a major crisis. It is Sunday, and last night I was coming home and my car just died, and I was close enough to home that I coasted into my driveway. But I live in a town where nothing is open on sundays and I have to figure out what is wrong with my car, because I have a ultrasound appointment in a different town 3 hours away tomorrow.

Now, after it died and I got into my drive way (there was still fuel in the tank and the radio and lights were working) I tried to start it and it would start, fire run for about 2 seconds and die again. Now it was cold and dark out so I could see much, but the oil is fine and I out some more gas in it (the fuel was just under a quarter of a tank) and it still won't start. After trying to see if it was just out of gas now all it does is cranks. I am worried and I don't want to spend a armful of cash getting it fixed (some mechanics like to weasel more money out of us girls in this town.

Any information would help greatly. Please!!! Thanks

[jay_c2004]

This may sound stupid but this just happened to me also. I brought it to the shop, because me and my friends couldnt figure it out. My gas tank ended up having water in it and would not run. Just a cheap easy thing to check, go get some dry fuel from the store, and put it in your tank, try to rock your car to get it mixed up then after a few minutes try to start it a couple times. Also another easy thing to check is if you can hear the fuel pump. When you turn the key to the start position, dont crank it yet, you should hear a faint noise in the rear of the car kicking on for a few seconds. If you don't hear it then it could be your fuel pump.

[public]

What year is this car. You may have a simple problem as mentioned above. You may have a plugged fuel filter since you still have spark. Did it surge or backfire when it died?

[JeanieBopper85]

Originally Posted by public

What year is this car. You may have a simple problem as mentioned above. You may have a plugged fuel filter since you still have spark. Did it surge or backfire when it died?

My car is a 2000. It didn't do anything when it died, I was just driving and then went to speed up a little bit and when I pressed the gas it didn't go, I looked at the RPM gauge and it was at 1000. When I tried to start it in my driveway it was back firing (After putting 10 dollars worth of gas in it) and then I tried giving it some gas and after awhile it quit starting and only cranks now. I am still confused.. I hear a noise when I turn my key to the on position but the noise is coming from my dash, I have everything turned off (my radio and Air). Thanks.

[JeanieBopper85]

Okay, so here's an update.

After freezing my butt off for the past hour (its cold here) have come to some conclusions.

-My fuel pump is working (well there is a whirring sound when I turn my key on)

-My spark plugs are dry (I thought maybe I flooded my car last night while trying to start it)

-And I have no idea where my fuel filter is.

Anyways, last night it was starting and then quitting on me. Then after trying it I thought maybe it was flooded because now it only cranks. Well its still only cranking, not firing, and I don't know what is wrong with it. Its not flooded, as mentioned above, but there is no spark (we tried to spray into the carb to see if it would fire.) No luck! Put methanol in the tank to see if there was any water in the tank and there is nothing. Any suggestions?!

[public]

Check for codes. You will need a code reader, plug it in under the dash and it most likely will tell you the problem. These code reader can be expensive to buy so ask around, someone you know may have one you can use/borrow or they may just do it for you. You may be able to rent one.

Possibilities:
You may have a bad cam or crank sensor.
You could have a bad module.
Your timing belt could have broken/jumped.

The fuel filter is under the car near the tank. A bad filter would not effect spark, so that is not your problem.

[JeanieBopper85]

Well I finally feel better with a little anger left in me for the sake of the cause being so stupid that it should have been the way it was.

I would like to thank you all for your help.

I would like to note that my car did NOT run empty on gas, my gas light wasn't even on. But my car quit and was giving all the same symptoms of a car with no gas.
The spark plugs were dry, which meant that trying to get gas into my engine while it was still starting but not running (it would quit) there was no flooding. Which meant no gas going to the engine. Thinking it was the fuel pump, I checked that also. It was still making the whirring noise so I figure it was still working. Now I had put 10 liters (approx, 2 1/2 gallons) of gas into my car last night. And with the gas that still remained in my car I had near a half a tank of gas left.

SO to all those who own a SUNFIRE and are not too sure what to do if your car quits and has all those symptoms, go to the gas station as I did and get another 20 liters of gas and fill the damn tank, because you could have a air lock and there may not be enough pressure in the tank to push the gas through the hose to the engine.

I could have spent a lot of money getting it towed and looked at and have some mechanic tell me it was a problem with me fuel pump (which cost almost 400 dollars) and still had the problem down the line. So check it out, I don't have my owners manual with me so it might say to put that much gas in, and if it did then I learned the hard way, but if it doesn't then I hope I helped someone out there with a problem like mine.

[Dave S.]

I'll bet this problem visits you again, you didn't find the smoking gun that caused the no start condition. It shouldn't matter how much gas is in the tank, as long as the inlet of the pump is covered.

It could be an intermittant electrical problem in the ignition module, ecm or coil packs, not to mention the crank sensor and other goodies. Just the act of cooling off or heating up can make problems appear/ disappear.

Your best bet is belonging to a motor club so you don't get stung by a towing bill when it happens again. been there done that.