New to fesy's , starts then quits ....

[Racespire95]

Hey new guy here , Finally bought a festiva been wanting one for ever... anyway its a 1991 5spd fuel injected with 263k miles i bought it not running ... It will start then quit right away so i unplugged the IAC valve (read that "tip" online) and sometimes i can get it to stay running if i gently tap the throttle repeatedly, itll try to idle but is rough and dies. have fuel i have fire. Previous owner got it then sold it so i have no history . it has allot of new parts (by 2nd previous owner?) New: vac. Lines , vac connection on firewall, dizy cap/rotor,plug wires, injectors and some other i cant recall at the moment... The plug wires were put on wrong rearranged them to correct cyl's (thats when i got it to start).. Any ideas what to look for/check/replace? I checked timing the redneck way (screwdriver in cyl 1 found apx tdc looked at disy it was on cyl 1). With the IAC and o2 sensor unplugged the check engine light came on read as code 33 but it never stayed on . I drove 4+hrs into the hills of west Virginia to rescue the little brat so im anxious to get it going any help would be great thanks!!
Sincerely,
recespire95

[ryanprins13]

Unfortunatly there are a bunch of things that can do this.

So, is the plug onto the vaf tight?

Remove the accordian section of intake tubing and bend it once its out to check for cracks underneath.

Check for any vaccum hose thats loose or disconnected or has a hole. I once spent 20min trying to get a festy to start and the brake booster hose was off....
Any little vaccum line would do it.

Can you do a compression test?

How old is the gas?

Was the fuel filter changed?


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[WmWatt]

It should start and run without the O2 sensor but the check engine light should come on. You mention tapping the throttle keeps it running. Would that indicate a fuel problem? Injectors working okay?

[Eaglefreek]

I would do a compression check. Sounds similar to how mine would run when rings broke on 2 cylinders.

[Rick the Quick]

Sounds exactly like my '93 that I bought not running. The distributor was bad. I went to a salvage yard where the owner claimed to have flipped at least 25 Festivas and he told me that was my problem and said he has bought many a Festiva not running because of this issue. $25 for a used distributor got mine running.

[Racespire95]

Ive checked all vac. Lines there new and are all tight no cracks in any , ive changed fuel filter , the gas is bad-ish the tank was almost empty i added a few gallons of fresh. Unfourtunaly I don't have a way of testing the injectors they are new tho ... I havent done a copression check yet whats the range the compression #'s should be? .... And as for the distributor its gots new cap n rotor is there any pickups/senders/sensors in it that can go bad? I know the aspire's have that in there but i thought the festy just had a plain dizy w\o that stuff

[WmWatt]

Re distributor: the ignition control module (transistorized points) causes problems. Car won't start without it. electronic device, heat sensitive, limited lifespan.

[Rick the Quick]

The distributor (both hall effect and optical) has electronics inside that do go bad over time. Your '91 should have a hall effect distributor. I believe the '92 and '93 use the optical type. When I purchased the $25 junk yard distributor I noticed the plug had a different number of terminals then the one on my car. It had one extra or one less, I can't remember for sure. The man at the junkyard who claims to have flipped at least 25 Festivas told me either the hall or optical would work in my '93. I got home and put it in and the engine has run fine ever since. Before the distributor I had replaced the coil and also the igniter and it made no difference. When I explained my situation to the junkyard man he said "bad distributor". He tells me a lot of Festivas ended up in the junkyard because of bad (intermittent) distributors. A new Cap and rotor will not fix a bad distributor. I have never seen an engine with compression so low that it would not run. Did you check the cam timing? It also sounds like the timing belt may have jumped a tooth or two. This will cause all sorts of problems. Your valves will be opening and closing late in relationship to the crankshaft not to mention your distributor will also be running retarded. Before I spent any more money I would check the timing of the camshaft. You can find the procedure here on the forum. Basically you will want to turn the crankshaft to TDC of the compression stroke and then line up a mark on the camshaft pulley. If they line up your distributor rotor should be pointing at the terminal for cylinder #1. The distributor rotates counter clockwise. The next terminal should be #3 then #4 then #2, back to #1. The engine as all inline 4's as far as I know fires : 1,3,4,2. It will run with 2 wires crossed. When I say run, run as in barely run. A friend of mine bought a forklift for $150 because the mechanics that worked on it couldn't get it to run properly. I figured it out in less then 5 minutes. The plug wires were crossed. One other thing you mentioned were vacuum line replacement. Are they connected properly. There should be a schematic on the underside of the hood. It wouldn't hurt to check them. Let us know how it goes.....Good Luck!

[Racespire95]

Wanted to say thanks! I looked deeper into some of things yall said to check and found out it was the fuel pump, pump was running but not building pressure replaced it and it runs like a champ