Motor cranks but hangs and stops during cranking -wont start.

[thegalant]

I turn the key to start the car, and it cranks a couple times and seizes to a halt. Then I return the key to off position and the behavior repeats with a stumble from the engine occasionally as if it wants to start. Any idea?

[kylecanthurdle]

make sure the battery is fully charged

[oakrdrs187]

Make sure the oil level is up additional to the battery being fully charged.

Would suck to have a seized motor.

[thegalant]

Make sure the oil level is up additional to the battery being fully charged.

Would suck to have a seized motor.
Oil level is good, battery is good.

Well I just spent some time outside messing with it. I hooked my cables from my truck to the car to give it full juice, starter seems to be okay though, I got spark from the plug by setting them on the valve cover and watching them in the dark. I verified the Crank Shaft sensor using a multimeter, I got 5.1 volts each time it registered and 0.0 between cranks, the instruction say you should get 5v while cranking the motor over by hand and 0.1 between cranks. So I'm not sure if my reading of 0.0 is telling something... Brand new battery, new denso iridium spark plugs, new cam shaft sensor, I can hear IAC working while cranking over by hand, engine just cranks no start, rarely a cough. timing belt is in like new condition... Blowby with oil cap off. Am I missing something? I'm thinking to try new coil packs... The car will rarely start and when it does it starts and runs at 650rpm, a bit low, and dies. Continuous cranking causes fuel vapor and the cylinders to flood. I'm thinking since I have gas, I have air?, it's not even coughing or trying to start so must be a spark issue?

Could it be a maf? Temp sensor? I will be testing the MAF tomorrow with my fluke multimeter. The cat has been bad for quite some time, but that did not ever effect it's driving and I still achieved 37mpg average with cruise control set at 55mph for 1200 miles straight. That was impressive considering the cat code has been set for so long. I like this car, but I don't want to throw money at it. Mid summer I had cracked coil boots causing misfire and replaced with new ones. Other 2 plug boots are in good condition.

On rare occasions that the motor does start, it will run for 30 minutes or so tops and turn off, upon trying to restart the car starts for 4 seconds and turns off, if you turn the key to start position briefly the motor will continue to run for another 4 seconds, this process can be repeated all day at this point. 99% of the time the car does NOT start, only chugs.

[thegalant]

I have reached an UPDATE: No matter how you switch the coil packs around the passenger side will NOT spark! Only the drivers side will spark. Again regardless of how you swap the coil packs. Where do I go from here? Is this a relay? Is this a computer issue? A wiring issue? I feel a sense of resolve but also a sense of fear that the problem is now more complicated or expensive, the car at this age isn't worth expensive parts.

[thegalant]

PROBLEM SOLVED: So I found a technical article from Doug the link to the article is here: http://www.justanswer.com/mitsubishi/6hxi5-engine-stalled-driving-coil-passenger-side-fire.html#

Armed with this knowledge that a disconnected Cam sensor or Crank sensor causes one coil NOT to spark I knew I was on the right track, I really must thank this article for this information. I was originally setting out to solve a problem where my engine would die 4 seconds after starting, the motor would restart as long as you turn the key before the rpm dropped to 0. So you start the car it revs up and acts like it is going to run only to shut off in a very uniform and constant manor. I knew it was something electrical, I read that the CAM sensor was a main cause of this behavior and rented a code reader from Auto Zone since they let you rent the OBD reader like a tool, free if you return it. Well My code was for Cam sensor. I bought a cam sensor on ebay for 20 bucks! I had forgotten to insert the electrical connector to the new cam sensor all the way, I had gotten carried away during the install and put it back together before I got it fully seated... Well I connected it until it clicked and started the car and it started immediately. If I did not read that when the cam and crank sensors are bad or disconnected in this case it shuts down one of the ignition coil packs I might have assumed the fault was with something other than the cam sensor! ALWAYS REMEMBER TO DOUBLE CHECK YOUR WORK. This is one of the simplest repairs I've ever done on any car, 1 10mm nut screw to remove the sensor! So thanks for the support even though it was limited, it's getting quiet around the 8g section but if some one has this issue hopefully you will find my information useful. Cheers

[krispy03]

thanks for the follow up!