PatBrown

Daughter driving car (150,000 miles on car, no CEL), died at highway speed, wouldn't restart.

Engine turns easily and like you would expect for a healthy car. But it doesn't fire. I've pulled the front three spark plugs at different times and couldn't observe spark on any of them (grounded against motor).

When spark plugs were out I looked in to the spark plug hole and observed mist entering and existing the chamber. I assume this is the fuel mixture. Don't know how to text fuel.

Any ideas? Never had any trouble with this car. No sluggish performance, no stuttering or rough engine performance.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Baetke

When was the timing belt changed last? A broken timing belt can cause the car to not start. Does the car seem to crank over really easy and maybe faster than usual? If the TB broke, the compression will be really low and it will spin over faster.

Baetke

salimshah

Spark missing is a timing issue or even imobilizer. I would bet on timing. When was the timing belt changed?

Salim

PatBrown

Wouldn't a broken timing belt be obvious? It's buried under that plastic casing, right? Wouldn't I hear it thwapping around...

I have checked and do not have power at either the coils or the crankshaft position sensor. Is that consistent with broken timing belt?

Am I right that the timing belt is relatively accessible?

Many thanks for your thoughts and responses.

PatBrown

Timing belt is on, appears in good shape and is taught.

salimshah

Time to start tracing power from the battery to the ignitor.

This is controlled by ignition switch, engine imobilizer, crank positon sensor, cam position sensor etc

Salim

manianac

I see you put no codes stored, was that before it died or did you check after? Since the CEL will be on during a key-on,engine-off scenario it helps to be sure.

As far as the immobilizer goes, it wouldn't kill the engine while running, but would prevent it form starting. The security light should flash without a key in the ignition, but once you slide it in, does it go out?

When you say the ignition coil doesn't have power, are you just re-iterating no spark, or did you check pins 1 and 4? Pin 1 will be a red wire or a white wire with a red stripe depending on the manufacturing date, and pin 4 will be a white wire with a black stripe. Check Pin 1 for battery voltage with the igntion on and pin 4 for ground.

If your coils do in fact not have power, start looking into wiring problems, because the only fuse that supplies power to the coils is the 20A AM2 fuse, and your vehicle wouldn't even crank without that.

PatBrown

The only code the car had in its' history was an evap sensor on the gas tank. Also there is a air/fuel sensor under the driver's seat that the wires have been cut/torn/chewed. My understanding is that neither of these sensors would cause a no-start condition.

I have checked the coils and the crankshaft position sensor and cannot find power at either/any location using a meter (thanks manianac). Since I disconnected the crankshaft sensor the engine will not crank at all. No noise, no click - silence. And the CEL does not come on when I turn the key (the rest of the "normal" key on lights do come on).

Any guesses? I was becoming convinced that it is the computer, but this new dead state has confused me. Could the immobilizer be involved now, would that prevent any engine activity?

Thanks all. Appreciate the help.

lexus114

fuel pump?? Or maybe something triggered the fuel pump shut off?

manianac

You are correct, neither of those codes would cause your concerns.

The immobilizer will not prevent cranking, the motor will just free-spin. No Check Engine Light when turning on the ignition is a big sign of issues though, as the ECM is most likely not receiving power. I would check over all your fuses (specifically under-hood ones) by using your meter to check for voltage on both sides of the fuse (there are test points on top of the fuse). Don't rely on a visual check alone.

If your fuses are good, you only have the wiring itself and the ignition switch left. On the power circuit for the coils, power flows through the AM2 fuse to the ignition switch on pin 7 (White wire / Red Stripe). After turning the ignition on it flows from pin 6 of the ignition switch (Black wire) to the driver-side under-dash fusebox, where it then is the White wire / Red stripe mentioned above to the coils.

I would also be testing your wires by doing an available voltage check, meaning have your black lead on a known good ground and the red lead on your tested wire. You wouldn't want a bad ground misleading your test.

As for your no crank issue all of the sudden, check your battery voltage. Sometimes we spend so much time diagnosing a car we forget that we left the key on the entire time .

Also, I forgot to ask. Have you done any work on the car recently? If you left the ground connections on the back of the intake loose or detached it can cause similar issues.

Keep us informed, your dilemma has me intrigued.