Thread: Need some help folks, car starts, runs, then dies

Trannyman, thank you for that in-depth information. I will be using that information this morning to see if I can nail down the cause. I wish I had the tools that would show the signal from the sensors, but I dont. I contemplated at one point buying a Fluke Scopemeter just for such testing. I have a Fluke 87 but its not capable of monitoring sensor signals.

shor0814, I definitely appreciate the information on getting that balancer off. I'll get out to the hardware store and pick up those items.

If you have an impact, and a proper sized air tank that will make removing the crank bolt much easier too. The reason I say a proper sized air tank is because we tried useing an impact to remove the crank bolt and it didn't work. The only thing I can think of is the air tank had too low of a cfm rating. Also the crank bolt is 24mm or 15/16", both are the same size.

Unfortunately I have no impact nor air tank. But thanks for the bolt size information, I can get one of those for my 1/2" extra long breaker bar.

Its official, I ran the car until it died then I used the method Trannyman mentioned to check for spark and I have none. I check 4 of the 6 and none of them had any spark.

I checked fuel pressure as well at the Schrader valve and I have 44 psi at that point. So it would seem at least, for the moment, fuel pressure or delivery isnt the issue. I will, however, check it again once I can start the motor again and see if it falls off or something while the motor is running, but I think the no spark is the tell tale here.

Could be an ICM, I have no way to rule that out since I have no spare.

I would guess ICM over coil packs because what is the odds that you have three bad coils? You could try and check the connection to the ICM first, that would be easy. Maybe it is lose, or dirty.

Reptile I dont know what to say to you bud other than thank you for trying to help out. Every time I see this kind of outpouring, it makes me over joyed that we started this forum.

Let me get back to you on that. I still lean heavily to the CPS and want to get it replaced. Since its the cheaper part (just more labor intensive) Im going to start there and if that is not it, then I will be in touch with you to see what it would cost to take that off your hands.

Again, thank you so much for helping.

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

Reptile I dont know what to say to you bud other than thank you for trying to help out. Every time I see this kind of outpouring, it makes me over joyed that we started this forum.

Let me get back to you on that. I still lean heavily to the CPS and want to get it replaced. Since its the cheaper part (just more labor intensive) Im going to start there and if that is not it, then I will be in touch with you to see what it would cost to take that off your hands.

Again, thank you so much for helping.

I saw something on Speedvision early this morning about a bad wire on the CPS causing the car being worked on not to start. No spark lead them to the CPS. Hope you get lucky getting it fixed.

Yeah, Im nearly 100% convinced its the CPS, and the only reason Im not 100% is that I have no way to see the signal coming from the CPS and thus cannot confirm whether or not it is doing its job. But I think I will start the replacment process tomorrow after I get home from work.

Well, I needed a good puller, so I went in search of one and I found this bad boy. I rented it, but I think I may end up keeping it, its a pretty good set.

The thing has everything you need to pull I would imagine just about any pulley, harmonic balancer, steering wheel, etc that you could want. It even has the tip on the end of the center shaft to keep from dinging up the crank threads.

Too bad it wont work on the supercharger.

thats a nice kit! you get the nice small puller that works very well on dodge crank pullies.

very nice buy!

Okay, need a bit of additional help.

Im concerned about getting the harmonic balancer bolt off so I was thinking, if I bought an impact wrench and got one of those portable air tanks (just an air tank that you manually fill, not an air compressor) would that be enough to just get the bolt off and then put it back on?

Anyone know if that could be done that way. I was thinking along the line of a 5 gallon tank or something like that.

I was afraid you would say something like that. I have about a three foot long 1/2" breaker bar with a 15/16" socket. Im just super concerned I wont be able to get that thing off, but I'll give it a shot. Leverage rules as Chris likes to say, I just want to be sure I have enough, but also a contingency plan.

Originally Posted by Reptile

A 3ft breaker bar should be more than enough.....I would hope anyway.

You and me both bud, if not Im am, well, up the proverbial creek.

You would need a good air compress as said before. The breaker bar will work just fine as long as you make the vis grip as tight as you can get it. I doubted this method to when I was helping a friend install a cam. He had an air compressor that wasn't really that small and that wouldn't budge it. So we tried the vis grip, it took a bit of force with a 3ft breaker bar but it came out. So don't be afraid to get rough with it, there really isn't anything you can break, just watch your knuckles if you slip