My car is not starting after one day of sitting.

However, when I take the plugs out, clean them and put them back in 45+ minutes later it will start up.

I got fuel on THREE of the plugs
Just replaced the distributor and plugs.
I'm getting spark.
It will crank and almost start but no go (Unless I pulled the plugs out like above)

A smog center said my car is running lean and I need to get my fuel injectors cleaned but they've been wrong about the problem twice already so I'm not sure if they're just guessing again!


Modified by Johnny916 at 10:39 AM 8/6/2005

 

compression test is fairly simple...
you need to disc the main fuel line and spark pluges and you need the cylinder your testing to be at TDB on the compresion stroke. so as you turn the crank put ur finger in the plug hole.. you feel the compression...once its TDC you can hook up a master gauge to it and apply presure from a compresser or what not, and you gauge will tell you if its holding pressure or not. **** forgot your throttle body needs t be open fully to get accurate reading. anyways you of you hear from throtle then you may have a burn intake valve or chipped, same goes exaust valve if u hear from exaust... it can also be your rings if its coming from dipstic or oilpan

 

TDC sorry*

 

^^^that sounds like a leakdown test to me
have you checked the fuel injectors or the fuel filter???

 

*Make sure the engine has been warmed up before beginning the test, to ensure that the oil has been warmed up. A cold engine will not test correctly.
*Disable the ignition module or coil. remove all spark plugs
*Insert the compression tester into one cylinder spark plug hole at a time.
*Hold the throttle to full open position to ensure the engine gets adequate air intake.
*Crank the engine continually for at least five to 10 full revolutions to obtain an accurate reading on the compression tester. make sure you do crank it the same amount on each cylinder
*Record the reading for each cylinder. If any of them vary 10 percent or more from each other a problem may exist in one or more cylinders. If the variance is greater than 10 percent, specialized testing equipment may be required to fully diagnose the problem.
*If all cylinder readings are within 10 percent of each other, no further testing is required and compression is considered optimal.

i hope this helps and i also added a couple things i learned.

 

Ok but that's only a compression test right?
What about a leak test? How would I go about doing that?
I'm going to try those steps, thanks very much for the reply!

 

How do I check the fuel injectors and fuel filter?? A mechanic told me the problem was the fuel injectors! He said I needed to get them cleaned, but he's the same one that was wrong twice!! Which is why I ended up changing the plugs then the distributor.

 

Ok i just found something of interest!

It seems that after trying to start the car with no avail. I continued to pull the spark plugs out like usually. This time the last spark plug caught my attention (The one near the distrib.)

All the plugs were soaked with fuel EXCEPT one.. I very closely examined it and the only fuel I can see is around the threads but very little and on the actual ignitor there was no fuel whatsoever!!

Could this long time problem of mine simply be a clogged injector?? Or what?