No fire under the hood

scottma

Member
:
Protege5
Hello all, hoping someone might be able to assist on this issue I seem to have. I've owned the P5 less than 2 months.

2002 P5, auto, 230K. Motor died while driving to work early this week. It does turn over, however slowly, but motor will not fire up. Not even a backfire.

Starter was taken out and tested. Numbers came back good. One tech did mention that he thought the starter turned over slower than what it should. The two plugs I checked do spark. They appeared old and the gap was way off. Plugs were replaced with new, still same condition. Plugs were wet, smelled like gas. Return fuel line was disconnected and checked for fuel pressure, which is fine. Sprayed starter fluid into air intake tube, no help. The Check Engine light was on before this occurred. No codes come back with the OBDII reader. Possible they were cleared out when the battery was removed to get to the starter(?).. Oil fill cap was removed and the cam does rotate. Motor fuse box fuses were checked, all ok.

What else am I missing to look at?
 
Here's the big list of possibilities...




Your timing belt may have skipped some teeth. You could remove your valve cover to see if things are lined up.
 
Disconnecting the battery for more than ten minutes rubs any stored codes.

There are codes for the cam and crank sensors but the engine needs to be running to throw any codes.

If the crank sensor is bad, the ECU kills the spark.
 
Yea, I know the list.. Have the service manual on pdf. I did read past threads on possible issues related to this. Didn't see anything quite with the issue currently having.

The batt was removed for some time, hours, while working on removing/testing the starter. I'll keep digging..
 
Just thinking, if the CKP is bad, why would the plugs fire? Just trying to eliminate any possibilities..
 
I remember one guy who would only get one spark then nothing,every time he tried to start his car.

It was a bad crank sensor so the ECU would cut the spark after one revolution.

So yea... If your plugs are firing then your crank sensor should be fine.


I'm kinda suspecting the T-belt skipping teeth because it happened with no warning then no hint of trying to start.
 
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Usually if the IAC or EGR are messing up, their symptoms kinda come and go.

Your symptoms appear to be permanent.
 
Maybe check your intake tube.

They get old and crack then let in all kinds of unmetered air. It may be almost broken in half.
 
Maybe check your intake tube.

They get old and crack then let in all kinds of unmetered air. It may be almost broken in half.

Read that in past threads. Did a quick inspect of the tube when working the starter. Didn't see any cracks. Currently looking over the fun I'll have to look at the t-belt. Thinking it may be the t-belt also. 230K, doubt it's been changed in the past.
 
Keep in mind that the crank pulley is rubber mounted and the outer "ring" that drives the other two belts can slip so that the pointer on the plastic cover won't line up.

Apparently it's happened to other people but I don't know how common it is.

The geared tooth under the pulley that drives the t-belt is always accurate but hard to get to.

If you can't get the two cam marks to point at each other then there's something wrong regardless of where the crank gear is.
 
If you can't get the two cam marks to point at each other then there's something wrong regardless of where the crank gear is.

Took the cover off, with the eyes of a friend, the cam marks never lined up.... Belt has good pressure on it. Guess it's time to replace the belt and tensioner.
 
There's a kit you can get that comes with everything including the water pump and gasket.

(these are Canadian dollars... You guys pay about 3/4 of these prices)



It would suck to do all that work then have your water pump start leaking a week later then have to do all the work over again.
 
PCB - thanks for the links / code. much appreciated.. Purchased the Airtex kit from Rockauto. It didn't allow me to use the code, the option never showed.
 
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You're supposed to enter the code where it says "how did you hear about us??"

You can redo your order if it hasn't shipped yet.
 
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