I'm very nearly out of ideas... I was hoping that perhaps the highly knowledgable and sexually appealing members of this forum could be of some help!

(yes, that was a very blatant attempt to charm you people into giving suggestions... )


First off, I have a '98 626 with a 4 cyclider engine. It... just... won't..... START!

About a week ago I started having problems accelerating, especially from a complete stop. The engine would sputter and have trouble getting up to speed, but once I reached about 40mph or so it would stop sputtering and drive smoothly. Once at 40+ I could seemingly accelerate normally.

Three days ago I was pulling into the parking lot of my local Publix and suddenly the engine died. I immediately put it into park and tried to start the engine but I merely got a Zzzzzzzz sound.

The belt was turning, but the engine wouldn't start. So I started checking fuses. All good. I checked the battery. Also good.

Towed it home... checked the spark plugs. All good.

I unhooked the fuel line and tried starting the car (yes, I put the open end in a container... ). Plenty of fuel poured out. Hooked a fuel pressure guage to the line... it was within normal pressure.

I thought maybe the fuel pressure regulator might be bad but that seems unlikely now. The hose you need to disconnect to see if fuel is coming out is in a rather awkward position but I'm pretty sure that checking it isn't necessary. The regulator seems to be just fine.

So I removed the spark plugs one by one and tried applying a small amount of gas directly to the pistons. Still won't start.

So I thought maybe the fuel injectors might be bad. I picked up a noid light... hooked it into the plugs, and tried to start the car. The light blinked rapidly. Sooo... fuel injectors seem to be okay.

What else could it be???

 

Ok the blatant attempt worked. Flattery will get you anywhere around here!!

Sounds like you have done a fairly good inspection so far. Did not however see any mention of checking to see if there was any spark whilie cranking??.
Your description of the cranking, Zzzzzzzzzz, sounds abnormal. Did the engine crank over much faster than when it was running and starting fine? Usually normal cranking will sound kind of rythmic if you can imagine that. I am wondering if your timing belt slipped a tooth or two back when it started to loose power and then suddenly slipped a lot more resulting in the stall and no start. Just a thought for something else to check. Get #1 cylinder at TDC, remove the valve cover and see if the cams are lined up as shown in the diagram below. Note the E and I on pulleys for Intake and Exhaust. Other pic is of the spring that holds tension on the belt. If belt is off and you need to release tension then make sure you disconnect spring from peg on engine first. Is very easy to overstretch and deform this spring. Normal spring length is 1.44 inches or 36.6 mm

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Well... I picked up an OBDII unit to check if the ECU had an error message... nope. Just says "Launching" and displays -'s.

I checked the book though and it doesn't mention the timing belt as being a possible error message. So it's possible that could be the problem. I'll remove the cover tomorrow and see what shape the belt is in.

One last thing, if the ECU doesn't give an error message that would *probably* indicate that it is indeed functioning... right? Just trying to eliminate everything that could be wrong.

 

A no error does not necessarily mean that the computer is functioning normally. And no, there is no way for the computer to check and see if the t-belt is slipped or broken. If you really want to see if the computer is capable of detecting and storing a code then disconnect as many sensors as you can and try cranking over 2-4 different times and retest for codes. Most will only store after engine running and two consecutive drive cycles but mass air flow, Oxygen sensor heater, and coolant temp may be able to set during crank only.