1993 festiva will not start

[bluesguy]

Purchased 3 years ago with 170,000 miles. Would not start. Replaced 3 wires in junction box next to battery, and ran perfectly until now. Car has 186,000 on it now. Problem started about 1 month ago. Had to crank longer to start than normal. Then starting got progressively worse. Longer cranking and starting for short time, and then cut off. Now, today, I tried to start over a three hour period, and fired up for about 3 seconds and cut off. Getting fuel but no fire. I even sprayed fuel in the throttle body and cranked. No fire.
I replaced those three wires again in the junction box, but no help. Sometimes, when I turned the key to crank, the dash lights went blank and engine did not turnover. Battery is fully charged.
I read some posts from other sources that suggested the ECU or the ECU power relay could be the problem.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[bravekozak]

welcomsign
Welcome blues.
Clean the terminals on your starter solenoid.
Clean all your engine grounds.
Twenty-five years of oxidation.
Pull apart the two position connector that goes to the starter motor and check for corrosion buildup on the brass terminals.
Re-test.
If it still does not start, then
jump your starter solenoid.
Report back.

[firebush357]

Welcome to the Forum bluesguy...

along the lines of what Bravekozak suggested, I would pull your plug and ignition coil wires and check them for corrosion along with the coil connectors. I bought one from someone that wouldn't start and pulled the coil to distributor wire, cleaned it up a little with a wire brush and it fired right up.

Also,
Have you checked to see if the spark plugs are not getting spark or just assuming?
Have you checked for fuel at the injectors tips or at the fuel rail?
Have you checked to make sure your VAF is plugged up and does not have damaged wires?
How old is the fuel filter and fuel in the tank?
and if all else fails, check compression.

[ryanprins13]

Welcome! With it not turning over sometimes it does sound like a ground problem. Remove and sand the connections clean at the body to frame on the pulley side and from the battery. Also there is one near the coil i believe and one by the thermostat housing. Either that or sometimes in the 3 hrs you spent trying you didnt push the clutch down far enough?
Check wiring connections as well to make sure their tight. The starting and then dying sounds like the vaf is unplugged.
Coil wires are plugged in all the way?


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[bluesguy]

Cleaned battery terminals, and reattached. Then pulled coil wire and found corrosion at suggestion of firebush357. Cleaned out coil and wire. Started right up. Thank you guys! Those two were definitely problems.

[firebush357]

Sweet! Glad we can help.

[ThisVelologist]

Good work everyone!