First thanks again to JohnM, slk230red and now Gilly..and anyone else my bad moemory has overlooked.

I've got good news and of course always bad news.

We ran the duty cycle test this morning. I was almost positive that idle reading was way low but oddly today (perhaps from a good cleanup yesterday of any plugs and sensors I could get to) at idle today we got 3.65 volts. Key in the on position read a healthy 6.8. Good chance my original call was off because as I mentioned it was a hurried test but today we did it right. At 2500rpm there is however no fluctuation and the readings stayed virtually the same - 6.8+- at any rpm. Ok so this rules out an ECU I assume and also looks like the OVP is doing what it should do. If I read slk230red's article right yesterday the roughly 50% ratio (3.65) voltage indicates the 02 sensor is shot - which makes complete sense. Nice to find out what it does is not realted to a bad cat Gilly. All in all things went good today - some plug changes and another set of wires later the misfire #6 seems to have cleared up nicely. Still a bit of blue smoke, no big deal. Good enough to advertise and sell.


Use this space to add anything that you care to before I go on to the "bad" news next paragraph down.




The bad news:


I drove around problem-free today after testing. Parked the car and left it for a few hours. I just went out to go for another drive - the car started fine - ran 20 seconds and quit abruptly.

I could now crank til the cows come home - it won't fire up. I can hear the fuel pump winding up for about 3 seconds after key in on position before cranking, but that noise it makes stops after those 3 seconds - first question then - should that fuel pump constantly make that buzz/clicking noise I hear when I turn the key to the on position or is it normal for that sound to stop like is now doing? Again this is before cranking at all, just listening for the sound when the key is in the on spot.

Same thing happened with the FPR a while back, but i now have three working FPRs from parts cars. I'm ruling the FPRs out - car is a no-start swapping any of the three. I loosened off the fuel line under the air filter and there is gas there for sure, I was alone here so checking for a good solid flow while cranking wasn't possible. I kind of think that fuel pump is garbage and your answer to my question about the whirring noise stopping or being continuous will tell me for sure. The gas in the line may just be sitting there and no getting enough pressure to have ignition.

Could you also let me know how to check my coil for any spark - or should I just pull a plug and look for an arc if I can find someone to crank it for me in the daylight? Assume insulated pliers would save my butt from a good shock? I'm totally stumped at this point as to why it's a complete no-start.


I've been cursed , just kidding of course, but after all the rest this week this isn't what I expected.

Of course the logical driver would say get rid of that old German junk and buy a Ford - (haha) that's part of the curse, that old German junk gets in the blood and driving a Ford is no longer an option.

Signed
Better days ahead I hope.