Okay...here's the bottom line. My 2001 626 ES V6 (auto) won't start. It cranks, but won't turn over. Settle in...this is a long story, but want to give you every detail to help with diagnosis.

Here's what's happened so far. The car overheated about a week ago and died. I pulled it into a repair show who diagnosed it as a leaking radiator and (because of the overheating) a cracked coolant overflow tank. Both were repaired. Not shockingly in hindsight, the car started to overheat after about 35 miles of driving. It was taken to the same repair shop (as they said their work was guaranteed) and this time they said it was the thermostat. That was replaced.

Guess what next?

After about 5 miles on the highway the car is running fine. Then I start to accelerate to pass another car and I hear what sounded almost like a very soft pop or whoosh sound and I notice my engine has totally stalled at highway speed. I start to pull over and try to restart in neutral, but nothing happens. The engine cranks, but won't turn over. I get it stopped and it won't start.

I call the same repair shop, quite irate this time, and have it brought back (why? I have no idea). They perform every test in the world (their words). They say the compression is fine, it's getting fuel, all the electrical seems to be working fine. They have no idea what's wrong with it. However, they suspect that it might not be getting a strong enough spark to start. They recommend new plugs and wires, but also say that they can't be sure that's the problem. It might be the ignition coil, but they can't tell until they rule out the plugs and wires. Then they tell me it'll be $600 for new plugs and wires and $300 for the ignition coil. I tell them to jump in a lake.

I get the car towed to my house and start working. I replace the plugs and wires and same thing. Cranks, but won't turn over. I replace the ignition coil...same thing. I check and replace the fuel filter, as I read that this could be the issue. Same thing. I can hear the fuel pump after I crank it and the fuel filter was full of fuel, so I think that's okay.

The spark plugs appear to be getting spark at this point, but it still won't turn over. If I crank it a few times, it eventually dies and only clicks. However, all my electrical in the car still works. If I jump it, I can crank it again a bunch of times, but it still won't turn over.

So, now what? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
JMR

 

What a bunch of **** jockies! You should do everything you can to get your money back from them.
Anyway, there are 3 things an engine needs to work (you outlined them- spark, fuel, compression). If they said compression is fine, then you don't need to worry about that. When you replaced the wires, did you put them back in the right order? I don't know about you, but on my 4 cyl, it has got numbers moulded in front of each outlet in the distributor, referring to which cylinder that wire leads to. Which means you need to work out which cylinder is which, and you can do that by finding a diagram on the internet. Wait, don't worry, i found something!

^ apparently thats for the 1994 version. very likely it is for your one as well.

^ again for the 1994 version.
Make sure you have them connected correctly, and try again