car won't run? Ideas?
 

Hi all recently bought a 1989 19E with the 2.6L in it, the car ran fine before, had and exhaust leak on the back manifold so I fixed it. Now the car will turn over and fire but not stay running. Does anyone have any ideas as to why the car won't run now? I had to pry on the manifold a bit to get it to come loose but it seems to have sealed up just fine. Might have switched plug wires around would this cause it not to run properly? And anyother ideas? thanks guys starting to get annoyed :mad: wife needs this car by saturday.

anyone? anyone at all? ideas?......

Just like any car....5 things to check for a good running engine

1) F make sure the "fuel is good & has adequate pressure.
2) I make sure that you have a strong "ignition" spark.
3)V make sure while cranking that the engine develops "vacuum"
4)E make sure that "electrically" that the computer allows for fuel mixture changes.
5)M make sure that the engine has compression & is in good "mechanical" condition.

Those are the 5 (fivem) item to check

it ran fine before, but now won't anyone know of any vaccum lines or anything that might account for this new found problem? I don't see how it could be fixing an exhaust leak did this? could it? I think its some vaccum line or something that has fallen off anyone have any ideas? how does one check fuel pressure? thanks

If it ran fine before, it sounds like the most likely suspect is what you fiddled with when you repaired the exhaust manifold. Plug wires absolutely need to go back in the correct sequence.

Might have switched the wires around!
 

Man, that is recipe for disaster, especially if you want the car to run. Sometimes, if the plug wires are not totally mixed up it will run. Say just plug wires 3 and 4 get crossed. But it you get more messed up then that, you will likely get a mis-fire when trying to start, but no start. Absolutely have to be in "Firing Order" order. I don't know what the firing order is off hand, but usually it it on the engine in a prominent place somewhere, valve cover is a likely place. Start with number one cylinder to the number one hole on the distributor. Usually wire length is a pretty good indicator of where they go, but they do get messed up on the distributor end also. The Bosch wire set on my M103 is even numbered for the uninformed, makes screw ups more improbable but not impossible.

OK, I'll add my 2 cents worth.

You mentioned that you might have switched some spark plug wires around. If so, did it backfire? If it did, then you may have caused a vacuum hose to come off in the Idle Control Valve area. Check all hoses going to and from the Idle Control Valve, and verify that the spark plug wires are in proper firing order.

I've seen this happen where the vacuum hose popped off at the bottom of the air/throttle body location. The engine would not start, plugged the hose back in and the car started right up.

plug wires are identified right on the distributor cap...just have to look carefully....front cylinder is #1, etc. The other possibility is a plugged/broken cat..that can cause pretty poor running and starting.