Car will not start! Fuel and fire is getting to the engine.

[Derek]

Hello everyone,

I have a 1993 Festiva GL Manual with a 1.3 Engine.

I was driving the other day and as I was shifting from 3rd to 4th the car stopped accelerating so I drifted to the side and it shut off. I tried to start it again and the engine turned over but it just would not start.

I hauled it back to the house. My original thought was that the fuel pump had gone bad so me and my dad checked the fuel pump and it was still working. We checked the spark plugs up against metal and they were arching. We followed the fuel line all the way up to the injectors and fuel comes out when I turn the key.

So we have fire and fuel going in to the engine but for some reason it will not start. I wonder if it my be the timing belt but I am not sure. I am very new to mechanical work and my dad has helped me thus far but we have reached our limit of expertise.

If you have any suggestions or fixes then let me know! All help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[Movin]

The belt may have slipped more than two teeth. Pull your upper timing
belt cover and align the marks on the gear by turning the engine. See
if the crank gear mark aligns.

And Welcome!!

[bobbyspider]

hole in the rubber intake hose? would cause your vaf to not trigger and work properly. if theres no air being sucked through it it will not start or maybe the flap is just stuck in the closed position. dont know? i just know this happened to me on another car before.

[Movin]

Its possible ! Usually there will not be any fuel at the injector
because the fuel pump will not pump if that hose is off. If it
is just loose it is possible to mess just the flow reading up
enough to supply fuel but not start, especially in cold weather.

[Derek]

We opened up the timing belt cover and the belt was tight, but didn't check for alignment. I will check that today.

Air flow problem:
As for the VAF problem mentioned, I don't think that is my problem. Correct me if I am wrong, but we had the breather off and the flap was opening.

THanks

[bobbyspider]

We opened up the timing belt cover and the belt was tight, but didn't check for alignment. I will check that today.

Air flow problem:
As for the VAF problem mentioned, I don't think that is my problem. Correct me if I am wrong, but we had the breather off and the flap was opening.

THanks

not saying that your wrong but check it thuroghly from the vaf to the intake. make sure the vaf conection is good (maybe even clean it). it just seems to fit the discription of what happened to me. when i would change gears and hit the gas the engine would rock because of tourc resulting in the hose being stressed and opening to allow air to come in where it wasnt supposed to. took me awhile to figure it out because the crack was on the bottom out of site, it finally got so bad that it wouldnt start.

like i said, not saying your wrong but this is just my experience.

[Movin]

Add a little extra fuel like carb cleaner spray down the intake , then see if
it will fire.

[Derek]

We tried spraying gasoline down and it wouldn't start. We are going to try some carb cleaner now and see.

At least we will have a better idea of what the problem may be.
If it fires up, then we have a fuel problem.
If it does not fire then either fire and/or air intake.

Correct?

[Movin]

Or cam timing. Or compression. If you put fuel down the hatch,
throw in a spark with enough comression it should go bang. Another
thought you might be injecting bad gas, have you checked for water
in the gas ?

[Derek]

How do you check for water in the gas?

[JoDan]

Well if you have spark going through the plugs and it won't sputter on starting fluid or similar than I'd check your timing for sure and then compression if that checks out.

[Derek]

I sprayed carb cleaner and it still didn't crank up.

I got a spark plug tester and found out that I wasn't getting enough fire.
I think the distributor cap may be the problem now. I hooked it up from the coil pack and it showed good power. So I'm good all the way up past the coil.

[Derek]

Turns out it was the distributor cap and the rotor piece behind it. They had some wear and tear and were not making a good enough connection.

Put the new pieces on 30min ago and its running like a charm!!:p:p

Now it's time to fix the brakes! lol

By the way does anybody have the tire bleeding order for a 93??

THanks again guys!

[Chobobulous]

For my 91 it is
PR DR PF DF

[Darlo]

Where are you from?