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My dad tried to get his 40th out on the weekend but ran into a little trouble. The car started at first, he added a fuel stabilizer, and after about ten minuntes shut down. It would not restart after that. There is fuel at the test port. Any ideas?
Since there is fuel pressure at the Schraeder valve on the right side of the fuel rail, clip a timing light onto the #1 spark plug wire and hold the trigger as he cranks the engine to see if there is any flashes indicating spark is present.
I'm assuming that the engine cranks but won't fire when you turn the key to start.
Fuel stabilizer goes in when you park the car, not when you want to start it in the Spring. You might have water in the gas, so I would try some dry gas, or syphen the gas out of the tank and put some new gas in it. Engines need spark (and at the right time), fuel, air to start and run. Put your timing light on plug #1 (left front as the driver sees it) and crank the engine to see if you have spark and at the right time.
You say you have fuel pressure, how much? Does the pressure stay up with the key turn off? If it drops rapidly you may have a leaky injector which makes starting difficult. Are the injectors being pulsed during cranking? Put a noid light (available at parts store), or a low power 12v lamp across an unplugged injector plug and see if the lamp flashes during cranking. No flashing, injectors aren't being pulsed so now fuel, no start. Remove the flexible horn on the MAF to insure that the engine is getting air, a clogged air filter will not allow a start.
Thanks for the help guys, Neon Driver is my son. After much reading in the forums and trouble shooting, I have the car running. Because the car stalled after adding fuel stabilizer, I believed it was a fuel related trouble. However i had good fuel pressure at the rail. I had no spark at the plug or the coil. I narrowed it down to the coil, module, ECM or crank sensor. I pulled the ignition module out (easiest part to pull out) took it to part store to test, module failed the test. Replaced module, car started first crank. It's good to have it running again, now that weather is starting to warm up, may even be able to go on cruise with the roof out. Thanks again for the replies keep up the good work.
your 1993 does not have a conventional "crank sensor". It's built into the optispark.
I recommend you get a copy of the helm manual - www.helminc.com - they publish the factory service manual. you got lucky on this one!!!
Don't ever buy a remanned opti!!!! They are prone to failure... get a factory GM part. At this time, I cannot recommend DynoTech, sadly. Their customer service isn't impressing me.
Thanks Bogus, I thought I was looking at a $1000. repair this time but I dodged the bullet. Hopefully my opti hangs in there for awhile I only have 60k on the car. I will pick up a helms manual should come in handy for future repairs