So I have a no start issue I'm stumped on.

A couple weeks ago my lude quit starting out of nowhere, cranks strong and hard, just won't start. I checked spark at the plugs and it was there, I have fuel pressure (didn't get a reading with a tester but fuel squirts out of the service bolt on fuel rail), fuses are good, I can hear the fuel pump priming, and replaced the fuel filter while I was at it.

After sitting for a while and trying so many times to start it the battery died. I charged it overnight, put it back in and barely had power. Took it out and got it tested and battery was bad, only 7 volts. It was 5 years old so not surprised. So I got a new battery and it started immediately. Thought the battery was the problem all along and the new one fixed it.

I drove it for 2 days no problems, then today I got in to head to work and it's back to what it was doing, cranks hard and strong but won't start.

I'm so confused. The battery seemed to be the problem but now I'm back to square one. Any ideas? I love this car and have been through so much with it over the almost 11 years I've had it, but I'm so frustrated with it right now..

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You need testing equipment.

Every vehicle needs 5 things to start:

1. fuel
2. Air
3. Spark
4. In the correct amount
5 At the correct time.

Fuel will squirt out of the rail with as little as 10 psi. The fact the fuel comes out means nothing with out a metric. Same with spark. Spark needs to be at least 30kv to ignite the mixture.

Invest in some testing tools or Yelp a repair shop.

 

Could the fact that it did start right after the new battery was put in and ran and started fine for several days before quitting narrow it down at all? That's the biggest part that confuses me, it seemed that the new battery fixed it immediately but then after a few days it quit again. It sat without being messed with for about a week while I was waiting on the battery, I'm not sure if it sitting that long had anything to do with it or not.

 

No. It was probably just a coincidence. The symptoms you describe are not that of a bad battery.