03 Won't Start

[glibbis]

2003 PT Cruiser. Completely stock, non-turbo, under 80k miles.

Was running absolutely fine up until this morning when it suddenly wouldn't start. The motor cranks but won't catch and run. Acts like sometimes it almost wants to catch and run but never quite makes it.

Battery is charged, fuel pressure is 60 PSI with the motor off, no trouble codes, I swapped the auto shutdown relay with the horn relay and it made no difference. Coil and cam position sensors are plugged in, haven't crawled underneath to verify the crank position sensor is plugged in (but I can't imagine why it wouldn't be).

I don't want to start just throwing parts at it like the cam position sensor, crank position sensor, or coil without knowing exactly what is wrong.

Like I said- absolutely NO problems until this morning. No warning anything was going bad or failing, just suddenly it won't start. Anybody have any ideas?

[quicksilverdon]

You check for spark?
Or, try some starting fluid in air intake - that stuff will ignite if you snap your fingers....

[glibbis]

Any suggestions on how to check for spark? The plug wires are too short to reach any part of the engine that is actually metal so I can't just pull a boot off a spark plug and hold the terminal near the valve cover and watch for a spark.

[glibbis]

Well, it turns out that the motor was flooded. I was very surprised at this since fuel injected motors are much more difficult to flood than carbureted motors. Further, the car had started fine and was running fine when it was parked the night before and nothing had gone on between the time it was parked and the attempt to start it.

While I was messing around I decided to replace the EVAP purge solenoid under the hood. I have been getting DTC 441 for over a year now and never bothered to fix it since the car ran fine. My only thought is that somehow the purge solenoid failed and allowed excessive fuel vapors to enter the intake tract overnight and this caused the engine to be flooded and not start.

Anyway, problem is solved.

[quicksilverdon]

Wow - that's great.
You're not touching the gas pedal when you start it, are you? DON'T.

[glibbis]

Nope. I've ben driving fuel injected vehicles long enough to know that one does not need to touch the gas pedal during startup. However, when I determined the engine was flooded I did hold the gas pedal to the floor while cranking to shut the injectors off.