I need help fast. I have a 03 Cav no mods what so ever. Its really cold out today and tom is suppose to be the same. Well heres the deal, I drove this thing about 150 miles yesterday with no stops. Parked it about 9 last night and went out tonight to go somwhere about 6 and it wont start. Thought maybe the fuel line was froze. So i went to walmart and got some starting fluid and some deicer for the tank. Sprayed the starting fliud right in the throttle body and it wont attempt to start on it. Car has about 43,000 on it so its out of warranty. I do work at a dm dealership they might be able to help get it fixed under warranty but i'm 150 miles from home so I need some help.

Oh car is a 5spd with the eco tech motor and the fuel guage says it has over half a tank. And i'm sure it does b/c i filled it up before i left home.

If the car wont start with the starting fluid that means no spark is your coil pack plugged in?

My car--->http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2569452

Yeah coil pack is plugged in. I have been reading about this pass lock stuff any chance it could be this or a sensor. I have got to get this thing runing cant afford to have it towed home.

Do you have theft light(s) ON?

Alont

If i recall it is on. Its such a far walk to go look and it is freezing out. but i am pretty sure it was on. If so how do i fix this?

wait, its gotta be blinking to mean anything. If its solid its fine. Do you have any issues with your door locks? How about an after market alarm? Did your after market alarm do anything strange when you tried to open or when you locked it before it wouldn't start. You said its cold as hell, could it be that you need a jump? Batteries don't work all that well in below freezing temps and if its kinda dead, that wouldn't help. Does it turn over? When it does, does it go normal speed, like its going to start or is it slow? If the starting fluid is sprayed down the throttle body, can you start it while someone sprays it (I don't recommend doing this one for very long)?



Scott

When I boost, you boost, we boost
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You have been banned from NEJBODY.
You've displayed wayyy too many acts of pushing people to their limits.
It's never cool to tear people down for what they want to do.
NEJBODY is a team. We're not the same as JBO where everyone bashes on eachother.
I'm surprised you show up to our meets after half of the things you say on here.

The car cranks fine. I'm about to go check some things out on it now. I dont have power door locks. And it does not attempt to start when i spay the fluid in the throttle body. Someone please help!!!

Oh and no alarm.

Well I finally got it started. Had my g-f jump it and after cranking on it for 2 mins it fired and now runs like a total piece of crap. Sounds like my 400 ex with a pro circuit t4 pipe on it. I moved it to make it easier to work around and it had no power what so ever. It starts up just fine after I shut it off but its already warmed up. So i got no idea. Buddy of mine said his chevy truck did the same thing and his converter was pugged. So could it be this?

You can unhook your cat if it still runs like @!#$ check your coil pack.

My car--->http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2569452

I just went out and started it again after having the battery unhooked for hours. The CEL went out still runs rough and really rich. I only ran it for a few seconds in the garage and had it all smoked up. Is the any way to get codes out of these cars without a scan tool. I work in a body shop and we have a really good one but I dunno if my boss will let me take it for the night.

Never, never never, never use starting fluid on gasoline engines. I should take that can of ether, and wap you over the head with it.
Seriously, starting fluid is not neccessary, the engine has the capabilities to start itself, if you further induce starts like that, you could risk breaking
internal parts, putting your simple diagnosis into a catastrophe. (throw a rod, drop a lifter... wreck your head gascut) yeah yeah, I know it wouldnt happen...
thats not saying it wont happen.

Ask these questions to yourself.

When it started it was rough, what did your fuel guage read, when it was running rough?
When you keyed the ign, could you hear the whirr of the fuelpump, (does it for 3-5 sec as a prime. and then stops)

Go under the driver side of the car, with your ice scraper, and thump on the fuel tank, do you know "for-sure" that theres fuel in the tank. (I know, it couldnt have run
out, because I had more than enough)

This has happened to me, fuel tank read half a tank, tank was empty, I ran out of gas, and thought it was ANYTHING else but the fuel tank.. I was down for 2 days, because
The fuel guage was giving me a miss-reading. I thought it was my computer... silly

anyways. onward

Your catalytic converter couldnt be plugged, because that cant happen over night. believe me, you would notice a long drawn out loss in power...(over a couple of days, even weeks) you would have noticed it last week..

Water in your fuel, (gas floats on water) perhaps, but something that wouldn't happen overnight, unless warm fuel re-circulated into the tank, warmed the fuel in the tank. and then the tempereture fell from 20deg-f to -5deg F in less then 10min.

Still, wouldn't get water in the fuel, because condensation if it were to accumilate would do so over a period of months, not hours. (outside air cooler, then air inside tank
warm)

All the underhood connectors are "for sure" connected (no one was under the hood, since when you operated It last) Were there any faulty connectors that you told yourself "Yeah, Ill fix that later..?"

Has the car had service preformed on it lately.. Is it due?

Did the car act, preform oddly, driving out?

When was the last time you changed your plugs? have you done a cyl compression test?

Now that you have concidered all these things, Im going to ask you this question.

Does your car have a locking fuel cap?


Do you know anyone who whould sabotage your car, overnight? Because it sounds like someone sugared your tank, mate

If you think that might have happened, you need to siphon the remaining fuel out of your tank.. then,
theres a valve on the fuel rail (somewhere allong it, there has to be) with your eyes out of the way, so you dont get it in the face, depressurize the system.
if theres no valve, just carfully disconnect the line from the fuel rail, with a rag over the connection, to keep fuel spray to a minimum..
It will squirt quickly, then leak...

Then take off the fitting that goes from the fuel line, into the fuel rail. pull that apart, and slip a 5foot long piece of 1/2 garden hose over it and leave it for now.
Go and get 5 gallons of premium fuel, and 2 bottles of fuel system cleaner.. Put the fuel system cleaner into the tank (first, both bottles) the add about 4 1/2 gallons of gasoline.
leaving a little left over, for part cleaning.

With the hose from your fuel rail, going into the now empty gascan, put ot all ciggaretts, and or sources of combustion.... Put the keys into the ignition, and kick it to the run position. You should hear the fuel pump kick on.. when it stops (because its on a thermal delay) trun the car off, and wait 2 seconds, and switch back to on, keying the fuel pump again..

continue untill you have about 1/4gallon of fuel in the gas-can.

Take the fuel rail off the injectors, by undoing the clips, and pulling gently upwards. take the regulator off the fuel rail, two bolts, screws... slosh around in gasoline.
put back together. You can get someone else to do this, while your cleaning the fuel pump..

Before you put the fuel rail back on to the injectors, use a spoon, or a turkey bastor, or whatever, and put a small amount of clean fuel in the injectors, this will get started on cleaning the fuel injectors...while your putting everything back together..

Put it all back together, be carefull when threading the fuel line, into the fuel rail, its aluminum, and will strip very easy.. blue-locktite on threads..dont overdo it.

Check all fittings etc..

Start vehicle.. let idle, and after warm, bring Idle up to 2500 and hold for couple of minutes.. after that, rev it right to stall speed (automatic 3800rpm) (standard, take to 6000)
and let it fall, and again.. and let it fall... as soon as the idle levels out, and you feel confident that its not going to stall, take it to your nearest fuel station, and fill it to the top with midgrade, (adding fuel injector cleaner first) and drive it around..

as soon as a parts shop opens on monday, get a locking fuel cap..

If your wondering how I know how to do this, expirience.. my friend..

Im going to think about your problem some more.. I still cringe at the thought of that starter fluid... eek...
scary man.. way to death-deal your car...

Ill be back...

For all who replied I want to say thanks. Turns out to be a bad ignition control module. I work at a pretty big dealership and it just so happened the used car department had an 02 with an ecotech in it. The used car manager who I know pretty well told me that I could take and try whatever I wanted so I didnt have to buy a bunch of parts I didnt need. I started by putting a set of plugs in. WOW who would have ever thought that a set of plugs would cost so much. Those things were $14.70 a piece. But my cost was about $6. Thank god for employee discount. 2 of the old plugs were really black and 2 were pretty clean looking. Tired just putting plugs in with my old ICM no go. So my dad said try the map sensor. Still nothing. So we swapped out the ICM and bingo runs like a champ. So now I have to get a new ICM of my own and put all the stuff I took off the used clunker in the freezing cold. Hoping I can get a great deal on the ICM or maybe I can get them to pull it under warranty with 43,550 miles. Thanks for all you time and help.