|
I've had this exact problem on several occasions in various vehicles (belonging to friends of mine). After verifying that both the Ignition and Fuel Injection system are functioning propery, I discovered that the cylinders did not have any compression. A trip to Autozone for a $5 can of fogging oil, and 4 second spray into each cylinder did the trick (with the spark plug removed).
The reason why this occurs is that if you crank the engine with the fuel injection system running, but no ignition, the fuel will wash away the thin film of oil on the piston rings. Once this oil film is gone, the cylinder can't hold compression and the air and fuel push past the rings and into the crankcase (resulting in a dead cylinder). You won't even hear a cough or a pop like it's attempting to fire, since all the air and most of the fuel will be past the rings long before the spark plug fires.
This is much more common to occur in a neglected car or one that has more than average ring & cylinder wear. -however, it could happen on a brand new car too. Try squirting 4 seconds worth of fogging oil in each cylinder and see if she fires right up. If not, verify that your camshaft lobes are in the correct position when cylinder #1 is at top dead center (to make sure that the timing belt hasn't slipped). It would also be worth your time to take some sandpaper to the sparkplugs to clean up the electrodes where the spark jump occurs. A little bit of carbon buildup hear will cause fuel to saturate to the plugs tips and inhibit spark transfer.
I'm assuming that you've verified that your ignition system is indeed firing, -otherwise there are several other issues that it could be.
God bless,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
--
'87 Blue 240 Wagon, 255k miles.
'88 Black 780, PRV-6, 148k miles.
|
