Car tries to start, ran fine 2 days ago !!! snowed out sat for 2 days now wont fire again... When I try to crank it over, my friend says he saw something sparking near the opti... What the hell is there that could/would arch, go bad etc ???

Thanks ...

PS:

I had this problem a week or two ago... Car ran great, ran/wind/snow... Car sat over a week would NOT START... charged battery at work, fired right up. .. Tried that again, Isnt working ... I think there is more mositure down there ....

Any idea's ???

Also white smoke comes out the intake when it coughs like it wants to fire ...

Spark from opti connector or something down there ....

 

Sounds like your battery is junk. You can pick up a new AC Delco 7 year battery for around $75. Cold weather kills weak batteries. When you drive it everday there is still enough charge in the battery to start your car. But after sitting a couple days or more, especially in the cold weather, there isn't enough charge remaining to crank it over. IMO this is your problem.


-Bryan

 

Bryan,

The battery is NOT my problem ... I just swapped one out this am ... Still cranks and cranks ... There is something arching/sparking arond the opti's harness .... Car wont fire still ....

 

Let's assume for the moment that something is sparking at the opti. Take a look at it when someone cranks it and see what it is. What's there that could spark, well lets see, 30,000 volts at wires that are how old? No, there's no way there could be sparks there.

Let's approach it from a different angle. Pull the coil wire off and put a plug wire on it and a plug and see if it sparks. If so, check a few plugs.

A different angle yet again is to squirt fuel into the intake and crank it over and see what happens. If it doesn't start chances are good it's not getting spark. See paragraph 2 above if so.

Dave

 

What I'm trying to figure out is why its losing spark and why its sparking at the opti ...

Its gettin some spark because the car tries to start but dies.. like its running on a few cylinders ... it ran GREAT just the other day, no signs of opti trouble ... I dunno I think my car HATES the cold ......

 

I'm having the same problem.
Car sounds like it wants to start but doesnt. Coughs a couple of time, just like yours.
I have spark and I have fuel. I'm assuming the timing is all wrong.
Since the timing is controlled by the optical part of the opti - i think.
I'm in the process of changing out the opti now and hope it runs.

 

Sounds like something with your optical sensor. If it got cold enough, and warmed back up, there could be condensation in there still preventing it from registering right and firing the injectors/coil. Also look into the spark arc, this is another probable problem source

 

Car started up yesterday no problems, first try... Runs Great again !!!

 

Condensation on the optical sensor then.

 

Anyways for me to help get this condensation out of the opti ?

keep in warm/dry garage would help ??

 

Sure would.