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Subject:Uncle... '91 won't catch
From:Mark Belanger
Date:Sat, 22 Feb 2003 22:17:31 -0800

Greetings all,

After scouring Gerry and trying to digest about a million messages with
the topic of "won't start," pouring through Haynes and Bentley, I'm at a
loss.

Here's the scenario:
I have a '91 Automatic, originally from Florida that I picked up about 6
months ago in California.  She's always purred(apart from a month of
cold stalls, but that went away).  About a week ago, I was driving back
from work had gone about 5 blocks when she just died at a light and
wouldn't start.  Plenty of juice and the starter cranked, but she
wouldn't catch.  It was raining early that day, so I chalked it up to
some electrical problem, but after a week in a dry garage, she's still dead.

Here are the things checked and/or replaced:
- Fuel: half a tank
- Battery: removed and fully charged
- Battery contacts cleaned and greased
- New cap, rotors, wires
- New plugs - old ones looked very clean
- Checked coil resistance per Bentley
- Checked voltage coming off Hall wiring connector per Bentley
- Checked air flow meter resistance per Haynes
- Checked fuel relay on ignition - clicks
- Checked fuel pump on ignition - pressurizes
- Checked and cleaned two ground bolts near coil
- Checked every visible connector within the engine - no corrosion

Odd things:
- rotor and inside of cap *heavily* scored at contact points.
  - Figured it hadn't been replaced in a while.
- Power steering pressure sensor disconnected.
  - However, it was covered in grease, so it had been disconnected for a
    long time.
- Wiring harness at tee near left rear lights, split with some cuts.
  - Suggested the previous owner had some electrical problems that were
    troubleshot.

So none of this points to a clear culprit to me.  The only remaining
tests on the ignition system listed in Bentley that I haven't done
involve the ECU, which I'm not comfortable screwing with yet.  Also,
having never owned a fuel injected car before(god bless the carburetor),
I've resisted anything beyond superficial fuel system tests.

Is anyone aware of a thorough checklist of how to troubleshoot such a
problem.  I'd really like to be able to track this down myself, but am
at a loss to what to do next.

Thanks,
MB

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