Hi everyone i drive a 1990 toyota with 155k. One day i was gettting ready to go somewhere and my car would not start. My battery is good. When i came back from work I put some gas into my car, my car started fine. Then there was this other day where the car would not start, i turned my key several time and everything was spinning(like my belts,etc.) then i went inside for a couple of minutes, came back out in 10min and my car started again. What is causing this?

 

could be any number of things.... i would first start to look @ the ignition coil, the igniter or the fuel pump

 

Does it idle a little rough? It might simply need a fuel system cleaning and a fuel filter change. My 84 Camry started being a little stubborn to crank. I ran a can of BG 44K through it and did the Seafoam thing through the brake booster line. (There are several thread on those products.) It now cranks and idles fine-must have been just a lot of crud built up over time.

I guess its a possibility it could be your cold start injector too or something else.

 

Listen to this, i was going to start my car up when i got off work, but it did not start again! I was sitting there trying to figure it out, but it still would not start. The battery is not bad because everything worked and the belts were spinning when i turned the key and i had gas in my car too because i filled up that morning, but it simply just would not start. Does anyone have any idea why it is doing that? What can i do to fix it? if possible can i get a quick reply, thanks a lot.

 

Be more specific when you say that it doesn't start. You mention the battery, so I suspect you mean that it will not even crank over when you turn the key. If this is the case, and if it is an intermittent problem, then you probably just need to change your starter contacts. It's not hard to do, and if you search you'll find plenty of info.

 

Check distributor for spark. If you need a new one, I have one for sale.

Also check connections with AFM. I had same problem. Truck would not start. Turned over just fine but no start. Checked coil, distributor and it turned out to be a bad AFM.

 

is it a 5speed? do you still get accessory power? if ya do check to see if the clutch mounting bracket is cracked, if it is that can cause a problem too, if its an auto, then nevermind.

 

this is starting to piss me off! Today in the morning my car started up like it always does. When i turn the key everything turns, like my belts, but it just seems like i am not getting enough power to start my car. Everithing works, like the light, cd player and everything else. Any more suggestitions? Thanks for helping out.

 

Here is one thing to try:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...shtml#FuelPump

 

where is the AFM located at? What does the AFM do exactrly? I just checked all of my fuses and all of them are o.k.
Could it be the fuel pump?
Thanks for a great web site 4crawler.

 

It sits atop the air filter box:



The metalic box with the black top and wire harness plugged into the side.

AFM = Air Flow Meter, it measures Air Flow as well as air temp and also serves to keep the fuel pump running. The idea being is air is flowing through the engine, it probably need fuel as well. If the air stops, so does the fuel. The FP test jumper bypasses this function and runs the fuel pump any time the ignition is on, the idea being that if the engine has power, it also may need fuel.

 

going to the mechanic today to figure out what is wrong. I'll post the results later today.

 

Happy 4-20 everyone, if you know what i mean. Anyways i went to see the mechanic today he said it might be "Flooding out" what does that excatly mean? He also told me to press my gas pedal to the floor when starting my car.

 

I don't think fuel injected engines have problems "flooding out". I think that is mainly a carburetor thing. Flooding is when the carb dumps too much gas into the intake that it can't start.

However, you can have a somewhat similar problem if one or more of the fuel injectors is stuck open and sprays fuel in all the time. You can usually detect a strong odor of raw gasoline out of the tail pipe when the engine is "flooded".

 

i went to the mechanic and he said he does not know! He said he can check my whole car out and not find the problem and still charge me money. What are my other possibilities?

 

What things have been looked at and tried. I suggested a few things, but no feedback on whether they were tried or not and whether they worked or not. Try the fuel pump test jumper, it has worked for me many times in the past.

 

I don't think it is the fuel pump. This has been getting worser, it could not start my car in the past two days out of three. One time was at school, i tried cranking it but nothing, went in for 45min. came out started right up. Another time was this morning, i cheked the spark and the spark was really weak. Does anyone think it could be the disturbitor cap?
I also put in a complete fuel system cleaner and put 91 octane rating fuel in my car two days ago, can the fuel system cleaner be causing the problem. If anyone has any suggestions please help?

 

I wonder if it could be a bad ground somewhere, my brothers jeep sometimes won't start but if he leaves the key on and waits about 10 min, it will start clicking then start, he brought it to a garage and they had no idea and gave it back. We replaced all the relays and the fuel pump, and it still does it, but we noticed when using a test light that if you ground out the relay going to the fuel pump that the problem seems to stop. So we think it is a bad ground somewhere inline with the fuel pump.
I bought my Tacoma about 2 years ago with 88,000 miles on it and about two months after I bought it, one day it wouldn't start, I mean nothing, no clicks, nothing. I rolled it down the hill, (I lived up the hill from my mechanic)wouldn't pop start, wouldn't turn over, he took it for a whole day, when I came back that night he said he had no idea, it started great for him every time, they ran tests and nothing showed. I took it home and it never did it again, ever, to this day I have no idea what it was.

 

Mine did the same thing and I replaced the cap and rotary button...no problems since. Like it would crank and crank but not hitting at all.

 

look @ starter contacts, possible switch/relay issue... seriously it could be any number of things though