[V8] ANOTHER V8 won't start...and I am stumped!

[Gunter Lorberg]

I had this happen as well to my V8 after not driving it for two weeks.  It really perplexed me.  Thankfully, Keith from AudiConnection had dropped by to do other unrelated work on the car.  He took one look at the Bosch platinum spark plugs and identified that, along with a tank of "bad gas", as well condensation build up in the tank itself as causing the no start problem.  We changed the plugs to cheap autolites, filled up the tank, tossed in a little starter fluid, and that solved the problem for good.
 
Hope that you get your V8 running again soon.
 
Gunter
(2) 1990 'Canadian' V8s with automatics

Ben Howell <bhowell at rmi.net> wrote:
Yep, another V8 that won't start......

Here's the situation: The car is a 91' 5 speed that doesn't get driven a
lot. Timing belt water pump and rebuilt heads went on less than 15k miles
ago. Plug wires, caps, rotors, plugs were done at the same time. About 3
weeks ago, I started it up to move it in the driveway and after about 4-5
seconds of running, it just died. I tired to restart it and it doesn't even
try. It turns over fast, like it has no compression or like the timing belt
is broken. Fearing the worst, I pull a the driver's side timing belt cover
for inspection and the belt is fine. My next suspect is the reference
sender. I know they go bad all the time as I have now put two in this car.
The one that is in there is less than 10k miles old, but I swap in a known
good one anyway...same result, no start, fast crank.

So, feeling dejected and defeated, I walk away and leave the car. Finally
this weekend I get the chance to dig into it and see what I can see and here
is where I am at:

I get only one code and it is Intake Temp Sender. I KNOW that won't kill the
car, but I check resistance and it is within spec AND I swap in a known good
one. Still no start.

Now I fear a timing belt jump. I pull both caps and both valve covers and
bring crank up on TDC. All cams and distributors are in time. Nothing has
skipped anywhere.

I stick a spark plug in a wire end and crank....I see a spark, so now I know
I have a good spark. Still no start.

Now, I run the output test to see if the injectors are firing. All 8
injectors pass the output test (or at least the click like they are supposed
to). Still no start.

Now I pull the plugs out. All 8 plugs range from extremely to somewhat
fouled. So, I replace all 8 plugs with new units. Now it's almost like it
wants to start. I can hear it trying to catch, but then it just starts to
crank fast again. So, I pull all the plugs back out and they are soaked in
fuel. I blow all the gas off the plugs with compressed air, pull the fuel
pump relay and crank it over for a few seconds to purge it. Now, I leave the
car with the plugs out of it for 24 hours in the hopes of really drying the
cylinders out. After 24 hours, I reinstall the plugs and hook all the plug
wires up and try to start it. Again, it tries to catch every few seconds,
but still won't and just ends up flooding again.

So, here's the bottom line, I have seen a spark with my own two eyes, the
plugs are covered in fuel, so there must be fuel and I know everything is in
time....why will this thing not start? It makes no sense. Does anyone have
ANY idea. Anything? I like to think of myself a being competent with these
cars, but this one has me stumped.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
Ben

P.S. I am still subscribed to the list, but I have not been getting list
mail for months now. So, if you could either reply direct or CC me that
would be great.


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