Car wont start

[Thor06]

Ok, so when my friend got his car (in my sig) it had a few problems. The exhaust rusted through a 1/4 mile from his house, only the front right and left rear brakes were working, needed a new battery, and it leaked oil. Well, we parked it and began to work on it. We got a new battery. We put on a oil pan gasket and oil return pipe gasket, neither of which are leaking (knocking on wood VERY hard). We got all new rotors and pads, the front left caliper and the right rear caliper is on the way. We also took off the crusty exhaust and just put on a shiney new 3" Megan down pipe and have a catback in the mail. Mike didnt want to start the car until the downpipe got on (his neighbors are kinda anal and he atleast wanted the DP on so he didnt piss them off too much). So we got the bitch on tonight and were going to start it up. Nothing. I figured the battery was low since it was new. I gave it a few jumps. It turned over half the time and it sounded like one cylinder was firing, but it wouldnt start. The other half of the time it would do a click everytime he turned the key. So we take out an check the plugs. I tried to get a picture of them, but my camera wouldnt focus on them up close. Two of them smelled strongly of gas, one smelled a little like gas, and the other you could hardly smell the gas at all. They look ok, except for one that had a melted part that hangs over the end of the plug (but thats the one that didnt smell like gas). The little thing that sticks out from the middle of the plug looks really pointed (kinda like a mechanical pencil with a little of the lead pushed out) and the gap seems really really big. I dont have the feeler guages, but I eye balled it with a ruler and it looks to be almost 1/16 of an inch. The plug wires looked ok, and thats all the farther we got into it. We hooked the battery up to a charger and came back in about an hour and a half. Nothing. Hooked his car up to mine and he tried to start. Nothing. It had been sitting for maybe like 3 weeks. Any ideas? If we should start replacing shit, what should we get? Any help is appreciated, we dont have lots of time and just need to get this beast on the streets. Thanks in advance.

[91clipsedude]

Originally Posted by Thor06

Ok, so when my friend got his car (in my sig) it had a few problems. The exhaust rusted through a 1/4 mile from his house, only the front right and left rear brakes were working, needed a new battery, and it leaked oil. Well, we parked it and began to work on it. We got a new battery. We put on a oil pan gasket and oil return pipe gasket, neither of which are leaking (knocking on wood VERY hard). We got all new rotors and pads, the front left caliper and the right rear caliper is on the way. We also took off the crusty exhaust and just put on a shiney new 3" Megan down pipe and have a catback in the mail. Mike didnt want to start the car until the downpipe got on (his neighbors are kinda anal and he atleast wanted the DP on so he didnt piss them off too much). So we got the bitch on tonight and were going to start it up. Nothing. I figured the battery was low since it was new. I gave it a few jumps. It turned over half the time and it sounded like one cylinder was firing, but it wouldnt start. The other half of the time it would do a click everytime he turned the key. So we take out an check the plugs. I tried to get a picture of them, but my camera wouldnt focus on them up close. Two of them smelled strongly of gas, one smelled a little like gas, and the other you could hardly smell the gas at all. They look ok, except for one that had a melted part that hangs over the end of the plug (but thats the one that didnt smell like gas). The little thing that sticks out from the middle of the plug looks really pointed (kinda like a mechanical pencil with a little of the lead pushed out) and the gap seems really really big. I dont have the feeler guages, but I eye balled it with a ruler and it looks to be almost 1/16 of an inch. The plug wires looked ok, and thats all the farther we got into it. We hooked the battery up to a charger and came back in about an hour and a half. Nothing. Hooked his car up to mine and he tried to start. Nothing. It had been sitting for maybe like 3 weeks. Any ideas? If we should start replacing shit, what should we get? Any help is appreciated, we dont have lots of time and just need to get this beast on the streets. Thanks in advance.

plug gap should be .029-.032. Get new plugs. bpr6es or 7es. They are good cheap plugs. pick up plug gapper-.99 cents. maybe fuel pump? If you buy plugs go ahead and get wires to. was the bottom of the plugs white or black?

[ricebike]

i say change plugs--relatively cheap--- get a wire-type feeler gauge for them too. for starters...
and put a dab of anti-seize torque down to 13ft/lbs

check battery terminal connections... check fuses/fusible links...

goto autozone to retest that battery...maybe bad under load...

did this car started before u changed it out? hopefully u didn't put the battery in the wrong way...

i'm just throwing darts since i dunno...

here's another: open plastic timing cover & check timing belt.

i've tried to take out the starter in my br0's 91 1.8L but can't get to all the bolts to remove it.... grr.

[Thor06]

The bottom of the plugs were white.
Battery connections were good.
The car ran really good before we started working on it.
Checked fuses.
Timing belt is basically brand new.
I dont think it was any thing fuel related because we could smell the gas after turning it over.

If I get some time today, I will start on those. The engine turned over fine, but it seemed like only one cylinder would fire. The plug at was in that one had a melted little piece that hangs over the end of the plug, and it had a shorter plug gap because of it. I'll get new plugs and see how that goes, and if it still isnt running I'll get some plug wires. Any more ideas? I'll get those new plugs today and write back tonight. Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

[Thor06]

Thanks guys! We just got some new plugs and it started right up. I appreciate the help.