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View Full Version : help! 97 gt wont start...



mrpyb
03-22-2012, 01:58 AM
Of all places for my faithful legacy to not start, it happened in the Autozone parking lot! She has 186k miles, good timing, newish HG's, no CEL's in the system, and the last mod I did was HID's and a new knock sensor about 2 months ago (see members ride for mods).
She had been driving great all day, filled up in the morning and have 25 miles on the new tank, walked in to buy some oil, walked out 5 minutes later and disaster struck. Turned over and almost started but would not catch. In subsequent tries the same result occurred. Sometimes the engine would not start at all, other times it would start for a brief second, the quickly die. Any touching of the gas pedal seemed to hasten the engine dying. I haven't had a chance to pull the plugs yet to check spark, but I just wanted to see if anyone had any preliminary ideas of what I could be up against. Again, no CEL's or anything visibly wrong. Here are the things I have tried:
-throttle idle when cranking over
-WOT when cranking over
-Starting fluid in the intake and around the vacuum lines (when in the intake, engine revved to about 4k, then died)
-Checked all plug wires from the coil
-Disconnected battery, brakes for 30sec, reconnected battery
-cranking over while holding alarm button
-moving car from a slightly nose high incline to a slightly nose low incline
-pull starting in gear

all attempts unsuccessful. ended up towing the car 20 miles home with our outback. Haven't had time to look much at her since this happened yesterday, and advice on what sensors I should look at replacing would be much appreciated before I go tearing things apart.
thank you.

96LegacyWagon
03-22-2012, 04:38 AM
The first place I would check is the battery itself. Does it have corrosion on the terminals (if so clean with wire brush)? Does it have a full charge (have them check it if you don't have a meter)? If that does not work then check your grounds. One other thing to check... is your gear shifter all the way into park? Those tricks have helped me fix a no-start at least half a dozen times in the past 3 years. HTH!

ScoobySnack
03-22-2012, 04:56 AM
Sounds like a fuel pump. Had the same symptom before Christmas! I brought a new fuel pump, installed it and work great since then. Well, crank the car over and undo the line going to fuel filter to see if you are getting fuel up. Worth a shot. If that doesn't work check the basics fuel, spark, air. Good luck.

mrpyb
03-22-2012, 11:19 AM
battery has a full charge and clean terminals. I'll pull of the line to the fuel filter later today and see if there is any fuel getting up to the engine. thanks!

Huffer
03-22-2012, 11:23 AM
Check your electrical connections to the TPS, and check to make sure you are hearing the fuel pump prime in the tank before you start up.

Unlikely to be the battery if you can get the starter motor to crank.

ScoobySnack
03-22-2012, 03:30 PM
I also went ahead and replace my fuel pump relay too. Also check, the green fuse as well in the picture. SBF 1 and 2? These kept burning out and finally it stopped. I had a short somewhere and finally traced it to my ground wire connecting the fuel pump. Worth a shot, keep us update man.


https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/06/main20relay2020SBF20No2-1.jpg

mrpyb
03-29-2012, 01:27 AM
thanks for the help guys. replaced the fuel pump last weekend and she is running great now!

ScoobySnack
03-29-2012, 12:51 PM
:smt023