Car doesnt fire up

[jpoyann]

Hi,

My car have been stored in garage for at least one year. Now the motor turns over, but the engine just doesnt fire up!
The fuel pump is working for sure, the battery is new, I checked all the fuses and they are ok.

I´ve been told the gasoline may be rotten. Is this possible? I ckecked the gasoline and it smells ok (the tank was full, I want to be sure previous to repace it all).

Does anyone know what would be stuck or deteriorated while storage? (injectors?, spark plugs?) I would appreciate direction to find them in the motor bay, my car is a 2.0 Turbe and I dont recognize a lot. Sorry my ignorancy.

Please help me with this.
I have a few day before going back home, and I really want to realive my car.

jose

[kimokalihi]

Quick few things to test.

You said the fuel pump works for sure. How did you determine this?

Quickest way I think is to remove the line going from the fuel filter (located on the left hand strut by the brake master cylinder) to the engine and get a bottle or something to catch the fuel in so it doesn't get all over everything. Crank the motor over and if this squirts out fuel, you're most likely getting fuel in the cylinders. Most likely.

Then pull the spark plugs out and put them back into the wires and crank it over to see if there's spark jumping on each plug. Try not to shock yourself, it's not too bad though. I think you have to ground the body of the plug on something (the threads or the part the socket grips) when you're doing it.

I doubt it's compression but you could do a compression check and see if it's got adequete compression although I'd imagine it would at least try to start if it had even low compression.

If you've got spark and fuel, you can drain the tank and fill it with new fuel and try that.

I think if these things are all good, it may be your coolant temp sensor. I've been told if this is faulty your car will run poorly or not at all. Maybe check your MAF is properly connected as well.

I dunno, those are just a few quick checks off the top of my head. Let us know what your results are.

[jpoyann]

I checked the fuel pump exactly that way.

I followed what the user Kimo told me about one year ago, probably yourself.

Please tell me where the spark plugs are. I really cant see them. Mine is the japanese turbo sold here in Spain, may be it´s different.

What is the MAF? I´ll check if its connected.

Do you know where is the coolant sensor located. I´ll check it too.

Thanks for your help,
jose poyan

[kimokalihi]

Yeah, I thought this sounded familiar. I can't believe you still haven't fixed it!

Anyways, the spark plug wires are red in these pictures. You can't miss them. Just pull these plugs out, they may look a bit different on yours I'm not sure. Once the plugs are out you'll need a deep socket, I don't know what size but usually a tool kit will have 2 of them designed for pulling spark plugs with a rubber piece inside that grabs the end of the spark plug so it comes out with the socket when it's loose.










It's a really tight fit so you'll probably need to remove your battery and the air filter box to give you room to get your socket wrench in there.








I think you have the twin turbo motor with the coil on plug design. So you'll need a 10mm socket to unbolt the coils which are on the spark plugs on the sides of the motor.








MAF = Mass Airflow Sensor. It's also called AFM or Air Flow Meter and it might have another name, it all depends on the manufacturer. I think toyota might call theirs AFM. It just reads how much air is coming into your intake. Should look like this.









The MAF is located at the end of the intake hose on the left side of the picture. You can barely see it.

[dzx]

or you could just pull the wire off the coil pack and lay it on there to see the spark jump from the pack to the wire...so you don't have to mess with the spark plugs

[kimokalihi]

Yeah, but if it were me I would pull the plugs anyways to check them out.

[jpoyann]

Thanks for the photos Kimo.

It´s going to be tight, I never saw the red cables. I´ll check it and I´ll post a reply.

Mine is the single turbo with the intake next to the intercooler. A mess of pipes anyway.

dzx: I even cant see the coil pack in my car.

Kimo: I recognize the MAF ! that´s something

I´ll check it today

[jpoyann]

It works ! You must be right. It must have been a loose wire !!Yesterday evening my car run again.

First I extracted some gasoline from the tank and lighted it to check if it was really ok. It burned fine.

Them I spent the next forty minutes checking every cable I saw. The MAF was the first one. The spark plugs next. They were black in my car, that´s why I never saw them before ! I didnt unplug them but followed them. They run just in front of the intercooler, in an area unaccesable by my hand. I saw that the cables were full of oil and dirty. I moved them with a screw driver.

I never found the black cilinder where the 4 spark cables join. Mine shoud be electronics. There were a lot more cables to shake next to the battery.

Them I tested the ignition. I hadn´t even tight up the battery terminals !! I thought it would fail again ! I turned the key ONLY ONCE. The motor turned over, a few seconds of doubt and the motor fired up again like normal. I just couldn´t believe it !!


Now I remember that about one year ago, I washed the motor with he water jet, just before I stored the car. Something must be slightly rusted. May be the MAF or something else I tought.

THANKS A LOT kimokalihi, dzx for your help. I appreciate it.

I have been driving all the morning!!
I have 4 more day here in Barcelona to enjoy my car.

Regards,
jose poyan