I have spark thru the plugs and fuel thru the fuel filter but the car will not start. It cranks over and has fired a couple of times but will not catch. I have checked the fuel pump, and replaced the fuel filter. The car was running fine the day before when I cut it off. Went out the next morning and it would not start. I spoke to someone who suggested the crank shaft sensor might have gone. Any suggestions?

After cranking over for a bit, pull a spark plug and see is it dry or wet. If it's dry, the computer isn't placing it into cold start mode to fire it up. Pour some raw gas on the air filter element and make it wet, put the breather cover back on, and crank it over. It will fire up. That means the water temperature sending unit/sensor s faulty and not sending a message to the computer. This is a very likely scenario. I wet my Toyota air filter with a pint of has, put the cover back on to seal it, and it fired right up and ran till he filter..........."ran out of gas".

check firing order of plug wires,backwards??

Have you checked cam timing?If it has jumped a tooth or two it will not start.

You need spark at the right time, fuel pressure at the injectors, and normal compression.
Have the spark plugs been changed in the past couple of years ?
Have you checked the fuel pressure to see if it is enough ?
Have you sprayed carb cleaner into the throttle body to try to make the engine try to start ?
Does it sound like it has normal compression when cranking ?

With this limited info on vehicle I would remove fuel filter and make sure your pumping fuel to start, then i would check and see if I'm getting spark thru spark plugs. Would help to scan vehicle to look for codes that could point you in the right direction

Hi, Ok you have confirmed that it's not a fuel problem. You need to check for spark. Pull the coil wire off of the coil(secondary lead-looks like a spark plug wire) Have some one crank it over and listen for a popping sound. IF yes, spark is at the coil, that means all ignition sensors are working. Next check for spark at ends of wires after cap. IF no replace cap and rotor. IF yes remove a couple spark plugs and check for fouling(wet, fuel etc...) IF yes replace or clean plugs and retest for starting. IF no spark is present at coil you need to scan computer and watch for rpm signal. IF no rpm signal, replace crankshaft sensor with OEM delco part. BIGGEST problem with these engines is Cap and Rotor burn out.

Hello bukskin007
I would say that 3 year old untreated gas combined with cold weather may be the problem. But you
can check for spark by removing a plug wire insert an old spark plug into the wire and ground the plug,have someone crank it over you should see spark to the electrode. And you could check for
fuel to the injectors by depressing the pin on the schrader type valve(tire valve) on the fuel rail after
cranking it over for a couple of seconds. But I would start with some fresh gas and maybe a fuel
filter. Hope this is helpful.

you will need to drain the fuel in the tank and replace the fuel filter and plugs after a couple years the fuel will go bad and it will plug the filter and foul the plugs if you do those 3 things and in that order it should start it is important even though you have good fuel pressure that you replace the filter to prevent damage too your injectors

Make sure your distruibutor rotor in turning while cranking engine, if it is timing belt ok, more then likely your not getting spark to spark plugs check your ignition coil, but more then likely it's going to be your ignition module.

check the fire, if you are not getting fire to the plugs, it will never crank, check the fire first, easy way to see is to remove a plug stick back into plug wire and turn over starter and see if spark happenes at plug ,get the plug close to metel on motor, to check spark, hope to help you, robert b.