OK - my daughter's car and cranks and cranks but won't fire. car has the 4 cyl engine and has almost 200k. it ran fine until two mornings ago. i pulled a plug today and it gets a nice strong spark (i know that is an old school method - perhaps this can't be diagnosed by simply looking at the spark...). there is plenty of gas in the car. no fuses are blown and i haven't checked any fuel system relays becuase i don't have the foggiest idea of where to look. any thoughts?

thanks,

jim

 

is it getting fuel at the rail ??
remove the intake tube from the throttle body, get some carb/brake cleaner , have someone try to start the car while you spray some cleaner in the throttle assembly, if it starts it is lack of fuel .. If so, i would chk the relay,, make sure fuel pump is getting power

there are also a few write up in our DIY section that can help you ..

 

thank you kindly, i'll check it. any pointers on where to locate the relay in question?

 

Main fuel relay is under the dashboard sorta near the driver's left knee.

Turn the key ON but don't continue to START.
Main relay will click & fuel pump will start running.
Two seconds later main relay clicks again & fuel pump stops.

Probably have to turn off ventilation fans & radio & stuff, because the fuel pump isn't very loud. It's located back inside the fuel tank. Maybe have someone listen back at the fuel filler cap.

Also you can use the sound of the main relay clicking to help you locate it.

 

See: http://www.techautorepairs.com/mainrelaydefine.html

The 98-02 location is shown towards the bottom of the page.