car cranks fine but wont start 94 Q45

[jmulanax75]

Im am absolutly mind boggled by my car maybe you all have some insight that could point me in the right direction.
I have a 1994 q45 180k miles

For a week or so my car wouldnt s*** unless it had 30-45 mins to warm up but a mechanic told me if you go from d-2 and back up while driving it would get the car to shift so I tried his method and It worked. Well a few days after some other weird things started happening...

the seat 1 and 2 light where flashing green dots ( driver door ) no matter what I did they just flashed
then my stearing wheel upon cranking went as low as it could go and was stuck .. till I restarted...

Then the dots stopped and the wheel worked fine

but as I was coming home from school went to turn the raido on then ..the car idle hand was going up and down and up and down the car was kinda jerking and then COMPLETELY DIed took about 30 seconds. LUCKLY IT WAS WITHIN walking distance to my house. We got a friends truck and jumped it ran fine for a few days.

Well suday I went to a christain concert and picked my little sister up and drove to a concert back to her house *car shifted fine* then as I was on my way home from her house ..... i turned left and felt the car act up so gave it a little gas and prayed.... well half way home the idle hand went up and down and up and down and befor I could pull over giving it gas wouldnt register cause the car wouldnt go then the engine just died car lights and everything still on just engine died. Well I tried cranking it and it would fire but the idle hand would start dropping and bouncing then shake and nothing... so I cranked it again and hit the gas to keep rpms up and got a little farther about 6 mins or so and then died again so I repeated the same method trying to get home cause I was without a cell phone atm. Well as I turned on my road it did it again but this time transmission malfunction crossed the screen and engine died but I coasted in the drive way but I couldnt get it to go into P even at a stop so I kinda forced it cause I kept rooling drive at a slope. and it made a crunch sound I know thats bad but I was already in tears and freaking out.

Went out the next morning to try and start it... it woult start then die as rpms droppped then it just wouldnt start at all just a health sounding cranks and cranks right up .... just doesnt start.... I thought I had flooded it so I did the gas pedal to the floor nothing ... tired starting fluid nothing It is getting gas no fuses are blown im so mind boggled any ideas suggestions advice?

[ThatsMyQ2Go]

I had a similar issue prior to replacing my battery.

My situation was a little more complicated. CEL was on for MAF Sensor and KS. I noticed the CEL would come on prior to the motor dying, and the throttle seemed unresponsive from 70MPH to 73ish then the motor would cut off.

I have since replaced the KS and MAF, but I noticed that the problem stopped when I replaced the battery. Hope this helps you

[Q451990]

You're sure it's getting gas? I would look toward a bad fuel pump and fuel pump controller - especially if the pump was noisy (hive of bees behind back seat at idle when you were down to 1/3 of a tank or less).

Heath

[jmulanax75]

Thanks for the battery and fp tip

It double checked and it is for sure getting gas and im going to try and replace the battery It still hasnt fired maybe the new battery will do the trick... ALSO IT MAKES A VERY RAPID (CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC) CLICKINGG SOUND AFTER I STOP TRYING TO START IT. im not sure how to explain it its really fast clicks I hear it down in the engine .. any ideas?
-----Bridget

[jmulanax75]

Thanks for the battery and fp tip

It double checked and it is for sure getting gas and im going to try and replace the battery It still hasnt fired maybe the new battery will do the trick... ALSO IT MAKES A VERY RAPID (CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC) CLICKINGG SOUND AFTER I STOP TRYING TO START IT. im not sure how to explain it its really fast clicks I hear it down in the engine .. any ideas?
-----Bridget

[failedinjector]

maybe try replacing the spark plugs fixed mine in a jiffy
sometimes when they get flooded it will finish them off
ngk v-power x8 = $15

check battery voltage with a $10 multimeter should be >12v always
put battery on a charger too may help determine if needing an alt. and or battery replacement

[Q451990]

The clicking sounds like your ABS actuator is stuck on. Check to see if the noise is coming from the firewall area on the passenger side.

That wouldn't cause your starting issue though...

Heath

[goody90q45]

..... but as I was coming home from school went to turn the raido on then ..the car idle hand was going up and down and up and down the car was kinda jerking and then COMPLETELY DIed took about 30 seconds. LUCKLY IT WAS WITHIN walking distance to my house. We got a friends truck and jumped it ran fine for a few days......

Just for kicks take a look at the mass air flow connector to make sure there's no corrosion and the pins are tight. The MAF is attached to the air filter box. The pins need to be cleaned and tightened to look like the center one in the pic. If you find corrosion on this connector you probably have it on the CAS (distributor) connector and the throttle position sensor (TPS) connector, neither of which are waterproof. They'll all need to be cleaned and tightened.



Heath mentioned that it could be a problem with the fuel pump or fuel pump control unit (FPCU). Are you hearing what sounds like a swarm of bees with the car running when you open the trunk? A simple test to rule out the fuel pump as the problem is to remove the rear panel in the trunk and jumper the FPCU to ground which bypasses it and runs the fuel delivery on high speed only directly off the fuel pump. FPCU is mounted under the rear deck next to the passenger side speaker. Just reach in and unplug it jumpering to the pin shown in the pic. If it runs fine while jumpered the FPCU has gone bad.



Everything I've mentioned are standard maintenance tasks that can be completed with just a few basic hand tools. A caveman could do it so avoid the urge of taking it to a shop and paying the big bucks.