What a rotten way to start your day, I climb into my '91 4Runner for my usual commute to work and the damn thing won't start. The starter works find and there's plenty of juice in the battery but the engine never catches.

I changed the fuel filter about two weeks ago and this is the first case where the engine won't start. It started fine after I changed the filter and it has run great for the past two weeks other than one episode where it took an additional 10 secs to start.

To my knowledge there are no fuses blown and the truck ran fine yesterday, but for some reason I can't get it to start. I'm guessing that there might be a leak in the fuel line that causes the pressure to back off, but I can't find any leaks and the engine runs great when it does start.

Hmm?????

 

Did you try to start the truck by holding the gas pedal to the floor while cranking it? If so, then check out your cold start injector. I have heard of them going bad and causing the pressure to leak down and cause starting problems.

Also check your fittings on the fuel filter and make sure they are tight. The pressure of the system could have caused a untight fitting to leak after time.



Just a thought

 

where is the cold start injector?

The fittings on the fuel filter are pretty tight.

Could it be the fuel pump?

 

Could be.

First you need to find out why it won't start. In your case you have two options: fuel or spark. You can check the spark plugs by removing one of the wires from the distributer and then have someone crank the engine while holding the wire close to it's socket. You should hear/see (and hopefully you don't feel) the spark arching from the distributer to the wire. Also if you aren't getting a spark you should be able to smell fuel coming from you exhaust pipe. If it passes that test, then your problem is probably fuel. To check this you can crank the motor and then remove one of the spark plugs. It should be wet. If it's dry than your fuel pump could be the culprit.

Good Luck



EDIT: If the CSI was causing a leakdown the motor would still start. It would just take longer because the fuel pump has to build up pressure.

 

cold start injector circled in RED on Corey's rig.. i think..


cold start injector

 

Yep, that be my pic
http://pnw4runners.com/tech/V6_3.0_e...cold_start.jpg

When mine was messing up a few years back, the engine would not start for a long time when cranking it.
When it did catch at last, the engine would sputter and run rough for a few seconds.

Only happened when the weather took a turn in late fall through spring when it was cold outside.

Had it replaced and problem solved.

 

OK, Here's the really weird thing. . . I get home from a weekend away and try to start the thing after two days of just sitting. It fires up just fine like nothing happened.

I drive around the block and stop and try restarting. No problem.

Two hours later I climb in to go get dinner, and it won't start.

Here's the weird part. I can smell the fuel and the plugs are sparking.

Nothing sucks more than having a car that won't start. I have a feeling that it is something electrical.

 

One thought... it COULD be the contacts on your starter. I had a problem very similar to this, where sometimes it would start fine, and other times you turn the key in the ignition and nothing happened other than a click (almost sounded like a dead battery)
I replaced the contacts and it's been starting great ever since.

 

I think the connection for my cold start injector was loose. I cleaned it up a bit and it seems to start OK now.