My girlfriend has a 98 GS400. The problem is after driving her car (everything runs fine) all day she parks it in the garage and comes back in the morning to go to work. When she tries to start it the motor turns over like its trying to start but it never starts. She tried several times with the same result. There is no lights on inside the guage cluster.

She has a newer, 1 year old battery. By the sounds of it turning over it seems that it had compression, the starter was working fine and the battery had more than enough power to start it. So I am leaning toward fuel, spark, or air. During the time she was having the problems I was unable to look at the car as I had to go to work.

That evening my gf tried the car again and it would not start. The next day (24 hours after the orignial no start) I went out to the car and was going to try and diagnose the prolem. The car turned over but did not start. I pushed the gas pedal to the floor and cranked it one more time. The car then started and gave a rough idle for a few seconds. The car then ran fine but there was a lot of greyish black smoke from the exhaust...


I let the car run and after a minute the smoke stopped and the car seems to run fine and still no CEL or other codes...The car starts up fine again and again now. I should mention that before I met her the same thing happened to her. After a day or two the vehicle started up and began smoking. This was approximately 8 months ago and had not happened again until today.

I have searched all over for the fix but everyone seems to turn towards the starter. Does any body have any ideas what the problem is?

Thanks in advance!

 

Sounds like a ignition coil / igniter issue to me, as it would appear to be getting fuel... start with lack of spark and go from there

could also be a cam or crank sensor...

 

Crank sensor?

 

Thanks guys, ill try that!

 

Old Thread but if I may add...my 2001 GS300 was doing this today. I replaced the valve cover gaskets earlier today. After putting her back together and firing her up, she wouldn't start. Rechecked my work and found that I forgot to connect one of the ignition coils.