Friday afternoon I was running errands and I shut the car off in the drive thru line at the bank for about 2 minutes (everything was up to temp and running fine before this). I then restarted the car to move it and it ran fine. About 1 minute later I shut it off again, this time for about 5 minutes while I did my banking. When I tried to start it, it would crank and crank and crank, but never fire. I smelled raw fuel during this, so I believe the injectors are firing. After pushing the car out of the line, I cycled the key a few more times, still nothing. The car would not fire again until I removed the negative battery cable for about 1 minute. Any thoughts on this? No check engine light once it started running again.

 

Sounds ignition related, coil, ICM, OPTI, etc. , but you'll need to diagnose while it's actually giving you a problem. Intermittent problems are the worst for sure.

 

On rare occasion, you can flood the engine if they key is not held long enough for it to start on the first try. This can cause a crank and no start condition. If you let it sit for a while, it will usually fire up. If actually flooded, you can try holding the gas pedal to the floor and cranking it. That puts the PCM in "clear flood mode" and tells the injectors to not add more fuel.

 

I deedn't know dat!