Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting SVT Won't Start

I searched but couldn't find anything quite like my problem.

The car turns over normally but will not fire up. I can hear the fuel pump prime and there is fuel pressure at the schraeder valve. I have tried pressing the accelerator to make sure it is not the IAC.

I don't have an inductive timing light so I don't know if it is getting spark (mine is the old style. I'm getting a new one tomorrow)

The car was running fine when I parked it last Wednesday. Tried to start it this morning and had the problem I described above.

I've checked the fuses in the distribution box.

Assuming I don't have spark (which I suspect I don't), where should I start?

Can I pull codes without a reader?

Thanks!

When mine was doing the same thing last week, I decided to reset the PCM and it worked. Try pulling fuses 4 and 11 under the hood or disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Either of those will reset the PCM. Then try to start the car again.

It is worth a try.

Also if this happened after having run the engine for a short time the last time it was running, you may have flooded the engine. This can happen from moving the car out of the garage and shutting it off then going back later to restart it. This is more common in cold weather, but not unheard of an any weather.

If the engine is flooded, hold the throttle to the floor while cranking to shut off the injectors. In extreme cases where the flooding washed out the rings, the engine cranks very fast. If holding the throttle down doesn't help with the engine cranking like the starter is on steroids, pull the three front plugs and add about a tablespoon of oil to each cylinder through the plug holes, reinstall the plugs and try to start the engine again. Compression will be restored in those three cylinders so that the engine will start. Since it is running on three cylinders for a moment it will be rough until the other three warm up slightly and compression returns on them.

It may not be any of this, but it is worth trying to crank it with the throttle wide open and see from there.

Today I experienced the non-start problem for the 1st time of my 8 years ownership (except when battery was drained).

Every day I put about 70 miles commuting to work. This morning, when tried to start the car, it started as usual but died in 30 seconds. I then tried to restart the car. No use. I saw the battery light and the oil light on. The anti-theft led on the dash was flinking like crazy.

I checked the oil level. It's right at the mid between high and low. It's not even 3000 miles since last oil change. The battery is fairly new for only 3 months. The lights, audio and everything seems to work fine.

I know I have an O2 sensor almost gone, because recently I frequently got P0153/P1151 codes up. I had bought the right sensor but yet to put that in. So I took out my Actron CP9135 OBDII AutoScanner. As usual, P0153/P1151 showed up. After erasing them, with the scanner still attached, the car started at one try. I then detached the scanner, tried to start again. No luck. Re-attaching the scanner, the car started like normal, fast and strong.

I tried several times with and without the scanner. With the scanner the car works great. Without the scanner the car won't even start. If the car started with the scanner and then remove the scanner whiling running, the engine dies immediately.

This is really strange. After I read some posts here, I was wondering if PATS is getting in the way since the alarm LED blinks so quickly when the key is inserted.

Since I needed to catch the last bus, I left home with another car. I will try to disconnect the battery after I got home to clear the computer.

Thanks for any help!

Hey guess what, after resetting the battery, the quick flash of the alarm LED is gone and the car starts right away. I think it is very likely the PATS system that got in the way.

Another interesting find: my irratic speedometer needle now is also behaving well. No jump up and down for the 35 miles I travelled this morning. I will see when I leave if it is the same. Or simply because the temp is cooler this morning? I haven't got a chance to check the wire connection between the VSS and the gauge cluster yet. If this problem is gone, then I wonder the speedo reading is actually having something to do with the ECU. Like Tony (CSVT1214) said that one time he hooked up an E1 cluster with an E0, the speedo simply won't work and the fuel was in the opposite direction. That indicates somewhat that the ECU may also control the speedo. I am not sure and will have to give it some time to see if this is indeed the case. So I will hold off my purchase of a new VSS just for now.

The O2 sensor will be installed this weekend. I now pop either P0153 (or/and) P1151 every other day.