2.4 Cranks but won't start

[thegalant]

The 2.4 is not starting. It cranks and acts like it's going to start, it will be turning over and then stumble as if it briefly just fired and tries to start and the engine stops and then goes back to cranking and doing the whole thing all over. Never had this problem before, it's like it's out of gas. The car has sat for a while but I've been using it for short trips around town like beer and groceries. Oil is good, new Denso iridium plugs fresh gas.

I went out after work to get a sub sandwich the other night and left the car running (I don't see the need to turn your car off for 10 mins of time) I come back out and it's off. I started it back up and it immediately died. Then I started it again and gave it some gas and it fired up, drove it home and hasn't started since. It smells like gas when you crank it but I do not hear the fuel pump prime when I put the key in the on position. Not sure what else to add or mention. Any one have this issue before? New outlander manifold last winter and valve cover/tube seal gaskets. I'm thinking coils or fuel pump... ?

[nino292000]

I would day check your fuel pump. It sounds like lack of fuel. If you don't hear the pump when you turn the key then I would check that out

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[wetamup2k3g]

These cars only start the fuel pump during cranking, not at key on, engine off. I was told this by a reliable source who has built quite a few of these cars. So no fuel pump sound when you turn the key on is normal. However it does sound like a fuel-related issue.

This is an old trick, one that isn't the safest thing to do if you don't have a full tank, but have someone try smacking the fuel tank while cranking and see if it changes anything. If it does, the pump is bad.

I did this to my sister's old Neon, it would stumble and die. I would hop in back, remove the back seat bottom and smack the top of the tank, and the stumble would go away. I sat in back and smacked the pump all the way back home one day, it was hilarious. That pump was a bitch to remove, the pump and sender assembly was all one unit on the side of the tank, not the top, so I had to drop the tank and empty the nearly full tank (of course) into buckets. Looking back, if the brushes or contacts would have produced an arc, we'd have been in deep shit, but it helped diagnose the issue.

Hope this helps, good luck, and be careful, because I'm not liable if you blow up your ride lol

[thegalant]

UHggggg................ I need to do some work on my Audi but before that I need to have a backup car... So this one must be fixed first.

[thegalant]

I wonder if it's the IAC... Usually you hear it buzz when you turn the key to the on position? Well I can smell gas like it's flooding when I it's cranking... Might be low pressure though... This car has never done this before. Things I've read online say it could be the cam sensor, crank sensor, IAC. I did have a bad IAC once. I replaced it about 100k ago. Wonder if that's the culprit?

[Black8GV6]

Smelling gas means nothing. I had a bad fuel pump and I could smell a strong gas smell in the engine bay. Protect your eyes and take the fuel pressure regulator (FPR) off the fuel rail, put rags around it because fuel will come out. Put the FPR back on the fuel rail, try to start the car a few times. Then take the FPR off and see if fuel comes out or not. If fuel comes out then your fuel pump is good, if there is no fuel in there then it's your fuel pump.

[thegalant]

I just removed the spark plugs and checked for spark on each plug, they were wet with gas and you could see the cloudy fuel vapor in the plug wells. If you are looking at the motor from the front the left coil pack does not seem to be making spark. The right coil pack is making massive spark like little fire cracker flashes. Unless there is a reason that first coil pack would not fire then I think I have found my problem, perhaps the car will not start on 1 coil pack? It chugs and acts like it will start but it doesn't and it mostly just cranks and barely a cough of a fire intermittently while cranking.

[keith6110]

I would buy 2 coil packs, keep your 1 good one as a backup for future testing. If none of the above is the cause, I would check your timing marks.

[coconut]

Sounds like timing belt .

[thegalant]

Sounds like timing belt .

Oh...you just had to say that... Now I won't stop thinking about it til' I can look at it which won't be till this weekend. Uhkhkhkk! What makes you say that? I admit, this is the first time this has happened, and the timing was last done at 130K. 200K on it now. Driver side coil pack =spark. Passenger = no spark. So could T belt have messed up and that is messing up the spark signal for that coil pack?

[coconut]

Switch your coils, put your left coil on the right side and see if you get spark. One way to eliminate possible bad coil if you dont get spark on one side.

[thegalant]

Turns out, it was the plug boots, all cracked and messed up where they connect to the coils. I wrapped them in electrical tape and put em back together and got proper spark, the timing belt looks brand new with no cracking or wear really, still got the little raised grooves on the teeth. It smoked like a banshee for the first few hours, think all that gas I got in there flooded it and did kind of a sea foam thing to it. Runs great, no loss of fluids. I think crisis averted. 2.4 lives on!

[oakrdrs187]

^^^ replace those boots, it ain't fixed yet.

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[coconut]

^agree. Glad it wasn't something serious. Good job on finding the problem.

[Donnie]

I have a 2003 Mitsubishi galant and I just changed the camshaft sensor, the battery and got a new starter only bc mi car wasn't starting then after i fixed those things it still wouldn't crank right!! So I get home from grocery shopping then it just cut off on me and mi brake pedal wouldn't go down.. it would start but wouldn't crank up.... So I'm not sure at this moment what it could be!! Plz help me

[Valleyboyxxii]

How to remove crankshaft position sensor on 09 Galant timing belt cover is giving big issue to come off