I was driving my car about 2 weeks ago and it started missing when i would start out. Progressively it had gotten worse until i could give it barely any throttle or else it would miss so bad my car would stall, also going down the highway i would give it more gas and it would fall on its face. The next day it would not start and its been 2 weeks and i still cant get it to start. I have fuel (checked after the filter), i have spark, replaced the main relay, spark plugs (old plugs were black on the bottom so i figured id change anyways). for some reason it just wont turn over.. help.

 

Is the CEL ON?

It sounds like the timing belts slipped a couple of teeth, so check whether the the cam and crank are no longer synchronized at TDC1.

 

Did you make sure that you had the plug wires going from the distributor to the correct cylinders after you replaced the plugs? If you put the wrong wire to the wrong cylinder your car will not start, if it starts it will stumble, and if it starts and doesn't stumble your problem is solved.

 

no cel, turns off when its supposed to when keys turned. if it slipped timing wouldnt it still start and run like **** like it did before? it ran fine when i shut the car off. just wont start back up.

 

na man they are all good i made sure.

 

is it possible its not getting enough fuel because when i took the bolt off the filter there was basically a big fountain when i cranked it.

 

Being only one tooth off can potentially prevent the engine from starting.

 

so how can i check to make sure its on time.. could i have messed it up with putting a new distributor on?

 

Turn the crank counterclockwise until the cam is perfectly positioned at TDC1. At this point, check whether the crank is also perfectly at TDC1. If not, the timing belt slipped.

 

ok ill have to check tomorrow its a little too dark outside to go look :p thanks so far

 

Can you tell if its in time from those pictures because my motor is completely caked in crap

 

bump?

 

Based on the top picture, your cam is set perfectly at TDC1.

I can't tell for the crank because the caked oil is covering the pointer. Clean the oil off the pointer area of the timing belt cover. Then look whether the pointers (aimed like the site of a gun) align with the white mark on the far right of the crank (see diagram). If so, the mechanical timing is good.

 

The bottom pic is taken when the cam is aligned but I don't see a white mark on the pulley and you can make out the pointers they just need cleaned off

 

I think the white mark on the crank pulley is the one farthest to the right in the bottom picture (you may have an aftermarket crank pulley). If it is aligned with the pointers, then your mechanical timing is fine.

 

timings good, but i forgot to mention that my car was running rich before all of this happened, does that help at all?

 

Have you inspected the contact points on the cap and rotor? How old are the plug wires? Have you measured their resistance?

 

cap and wires were replaced about 6 months ago with ngk wires and oem cap, i opened the cap up and cleaned the contact points and just recently put on a rotor about a week ago and also cleaned it. I dont know how to measure resistance but i did test for spark by sticking a screwdriver in them and arcing them on the valve cover

 

Old faulty plug wires won't typically prevent spark but instead cause misfiring. How old are the plug wires?

 

about 6 or so months ago

 

The plug wires are likely fine.

It's time for you to compression test the cylinders.

 

ok i didnt do a compression test but i did take a video to see if that would help. today it started barely for a second then shut off so i figured id try to get it doing it again on video but it didnt start but almost did. see what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb39FuKUR9Q