He called me and said that his car wont start. Turns out he started his car cold and reved his car up to 4k. He said that it just turned off. Now when I try to start it, it starts but idles at about 200 rpms then turns off after about 5 seconds. It acted like it was flooded out, so I gave it about an hour but it still wont stay on. Any ideas? By the way its a 97' TA.

 

probably a bad coil, or a bad ign.control module;had the same problem a few mos. ago., just bought a new coil and ign module together started up like new again. also mabey bad fuel filter or bad fuel pump,but id have the ign mod checked first.

 

Sounds like the symptoms that a faulty coolant temperature sensor could cause. http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#ect

 

Put a scanner on it, and pull the codes.

 

Now the car wont even turn over, it's acting like it has a bad ICM because my car did almost the same thing when the module was bad. I checked the coil wire to see if it had spark and it does. So I pulled my coil and ICM and put it in his car just to make sure, still nothing. It just keeps trying to turn over and the exhaust is popping. I really cant do much right now because the car in stuck in an apartment complex. I starting to think that his opti may have gone bad. I'm going to try and get a scanner on it tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far.

 

Alright, I just scanned it and no codes are comming up. All it says is "there are no DTCs stored." Any ideas.

 

Yes, the battery is fine. The car trys to turn over but it wont.

 

Try the ignition fuse. I changed out the ICM without disconnecting the battery and blew the fuse. Took me while to figure it out. It was a small problem. But an easy, easy fix.

 

Checked all the fuses with a test light and they're all fine.

 

I'de inspect them visually.

 

Visual inspection of fuses is not fool proof. ive seen them pop deep inside the fuse where you cant see. the best way to check them is with a multimeter or an ohm meter. if you read zero resistance, its good. if you read infinite or "OL" replace it.

now, on to the subject at hand. my car went thru something similar. it would start, run extremely rough, then die. after repeated tries, it would just pop occationally like the the engine fired on one cyl. and you could smell fule being dumped into the exhaust.

it ended up being the optispark.

good luck!

 

You probably have a fuel problem. Check fuel pressure see if the pump fuse is good.

 

You say the battery is "fine" and yet you say it won't turn over. Well if it won't turn over then you don't have enough juice to turn it over. I suggest that you make sure the battery is "good" and that it has a full charge and that all connections are solid. If the battery is shot the car will not run very long even if started since your alternator is not going to provide the juice, especially at low rpms to support your ingnition. JMHO

 

So.....instead of trying the pcm from your car, how about trying your battery. I'm probably wrong here, but I suggest you at least completely eliminate the battery as the culprit. Always start with the obvious.

 

Many parts stores can load test your battery for you.