Hey guys I have a 97 la 400 with no start it cranks and it starts up for a second and it dies rite away so I put starting fluid on the throttle body and it stayed on longer so I thought it was fuel pump changed it and nothing still the same thing so I'm looking at coils and I disconnect one and ground it out and the car starts rite up misfiring but it starts any ideas on what it can be maybe ECU???!

 

Put it on a scanner to see if theres any codes

 

No codes it's driving me crazy

 

Sometimes it says that it cannot connect when I plug the scanner

 

You will need to take a more methodical approach if you want to get to the root cause. I do not know why disconnecting one coil and grounding it out would make it start right up but suspect that is just a mis-read. Why don't you check for spark on each coil while cranking? It could also be your distributor caps and/or rotors. Many do not know that those should be replaced periodically. Pull a plug wire on each bank and make sure you are getting fire.

 

Well if you cancelled out the pump and it's not throwing any codes I would definitely suspect the coils even though it's not that simple. Have you done any work on it recently? How long has this been happening? How many miles on the car? It could be ECU but I would not suspect that this early in the diagnosis. Randal makes a good point about the caps/rotors.

 

Ok I've checked for spark fuel and timing all good!!!

 

Maybe you just have a large vacuum leak.

 

But why would it start when I put starting fluid down the throtle body and the whole disconnecting the coil wire and ground it just tripped me out can u post videos on this site to show u guys?

 

are you using the original key that came with the car when it was running? The original ECU?

 

I bought the car 5 months ago and I was running fine untill one day it just dies out on me!!

 

Check the circuit opening relay observing the voltage between pin 3 and 5. It should be 0V and also pin 3 - GND should be 12V. If these are not so, it simply means that the ECU is disabling the DC supply to the fuel pump detecting any fail safe condition or the relay is just faulty. The ECU disables the fuel supply when a abnormality is detected such unusual signal from the MAF and etc.

 

Can it be my ignition modules?

 

How can I check the MAF Bc I disconnected the MAF and it actually gave me a code but besides that no codes at all!

 

Maybe fuel pump relay dropping out. Could be igniter problem. Could be a connector corroded or loose.
Maybe the famous capacitor problem?