[Shotimes] SHO will not start

[Zach Leahy]

Agreed, Justin just demonstrated thinking logically. Sounds like the ford
dealer mentioned is not doing that. I would think about taking the car
elswhere and telling the dealer to shove it. Sounds like they are just
guessing and throwing parts at it.
 Think about it, there are 4 items to make a car run, and one of them is
missing.
 1: Fuel
2: Spark
3: Compression
4: Timing it all together
(getting air in is usually not an issue for it running - but may be an issue
for it running rouh or not as well as we would all like)
 So I am with Justin, step one check that there is fuel in the rails and you
hear the pump prime. If it does not. Stop there and figure out why. If it
does go to number 2.
 Check for spark. There's a lot of ways to do it, justin's suggestion of a
timing light is a good one, especially in a SHO. You could also pull a wire
and stick a plug in it, ground it, and crank the motor. If there is spark,
then move to step three.
 Step 3 is a long shot with most modern cars, and generally is not going to
keep an engine from running. I have however had one SHO not run becasue the
valve adjustment was way out of whack (machine shop screwed up the valve
grind). No compression, no run. But you can _hear_ an engine with no
compression.
 Step 4 is timing, likely if you have not tried to put on a timing belt, and
it's not broken, all is fine. Exception to this would be if you are getting
crank cancer, but that generally will not casue the car not to run at all,
it just won't run really well.
 So start there, figure out which one of the 4 things you are missing and
then start moving into the details.
 Oh, and one tip from Zach: Never ever ever put an alarm system in a car.
and if you DO put one in. SOLDER ALL THE OCNNECTIONS! I don't know how many
cars I have seen with an aftermarket alarm that won't run becasue the
connections fell apart or the wiring was done poorly. Here's a tip: just
don't put one in your car, no one is gonna care if it goes off anyway, they
are just going to be pissed about it caus eit's annoying. Likely if someones
alarm was going off because smoeone was really trying to steal the car or
break into it, I would ignore the alarm anyway and not even bother to think
about it. (Did I mention I HATE car alarms?)
 Z
 Z

 On 9/15/05, MonsieurBoo@aol.com <MonsieurBoo@aol.com> wrote:
>
> I really love the "Justin" style of checking this stuff. Irrespective of
> what the codes may or may not show, ya just can't go wrong by verifying
> there
> is physically gas in the rails and physically high voltage in the spark
> wires.
> Once you've got that, then it's time to focus on anything computeroid.
>
> On the one hand I wonder if today's crop of mechanics instinctively goes
> to
> test the physical stuff first -- or just grabs right for the code reader.
> But on the other hand I've watched the kids at a couple of those
> mechanics'
> olympics where they break five or ten things on each car and the kids race
> to
> see who can fix 'em the fastest. It's pretty amazing how they dive in and
> get
> things working so quick. Good training for doing things on the book rate,
> obviously! (At least the "quick" part, if not always the "working")
>
> Cheers,
> Mark LaBarre
> 94 atx 130k
>
> ====================
> I've been informed that the crank sensor was ruled out just today. Next
> thing is to take off the Alpine security system (installed by a 3rd
> party before I owned it).
>
> -- Ed
>
>
>
> Does the fuel pump prime the system when the key is turned to the ON
> position, prior to going to START? You should hear it run for a couple of
> seconds.
> You can put a pressure gauge on the schrader valve, or just push it in
> with
> your finger to verify the rail is being pressurized.
>
> Are you getting any spark at all? A good way to check is to just put a
> timing light on each plug wire and turn it over. If it blinks, you've got
> spark.
>
> -- Justin
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