Car Turns Over Freely - Doesn't Start

[CNorell145]

Alright fellas, a new problem has arisen. My 2000 GTP died today on the highway all-of-a-suddenly and it will not start back up. There was no noticeable knocking or anything, however the RPMs were fluctuating going down the highway from about 2200-2400. When you turn the engine over to try to start it, it doesn't sound right. It's like there is no compression within the engine, there is no resistance for the starter. All you hear is the whine of the starter engine, and an occasional backfire.

The car is getting spark, there is fuel being delivered to the rails, and both the cam and crank are spinning when the car turns over...

It is also throwing a P0102 code and a P0341 (cam sensor). However, from what I have read - a bad cam sensor would not cause it to fail to start, it would simply run poorly.

Throw out any possible ideas you can think of and I'll test them. I need the car up and running tomorrow so I can get to class.

Thank you in advance, any questions feel free to ask!

[Scottydoggs]

unplug the maf, see if it starts up. po102 http://www.obd-codes.com/p0102

also check the fuse box for #26 iirc. its the maf fuse.

check the wires to the maf as well for damage.

[CNorell145]

I unplugged the MAF, checked all fuses and I don't see any wire damage. It is a very perplexing issue.

[Scottydoggs]

check your cam and crank sensor harness to for damage as well. cam and crank tell the icm to fire the coils, if that harness or the sensors are bad it wont fire up. these car never toss a crank sensor code either, if it had been stalling in the past, its the crank sensor.

[CNorell145]

I just did a compression test, and the cylinders are getting no compression. Tested two cylinders. But the head gasket is fine - no fluids anywhere.

[Scottydoggs]

the likelihood of two cylinders being down to zero is unlikely. you sure the gauge works? try it in another car maybe.

open the oil filler neck, ( the bottom part thats flush to the valve cover) have some one crank the engine while you watch to see if the rockers you can see are moving. if they are not moving the timing chain may have broke, but thats really rare.

[CNorell145]

The rocker arms move up and down seemingly fine (the two we could see). Everyone I ask about it seems to think timing chain, but like you said - the likelihood of a double roller timing chain just breaking is virtually zero.

[tomtom123]

http://www.obd-codes.com/p0341
As Scotty mentioned, the cam sensor. If it's not reading, the car MAY not start up. On the site linked it states some symptoms might be
Poor fuel economy (if engine runs)
Possible no start condition.

Also, try your compression tester in other cylinders. I once had a compression tester not read any compression and found out the issue was it wasn't sealing properly in the spark plug hole.

[BillBoost37]

How long have you had teh bad cam sensor code? If it just happened, check the wiring to the crank and cam sensors all the way to the ICM.

A bad cam sensor btw will give you a 1:6 chance of starting. I left mine unplugged before and read up on it.

[CNorell145]

So the engine still has no compression, I pulled the timing chain cover, thinking there was a small chance that the timing chain skipped to a perfect place and reversed the valve timing, so on the compression stroke the air was just being blown out the cylinder. That isn't the case, the timing chain is perfectly fine.

The thing I cannot wrap my head around is the fact that the engine is getting no compression, but there isn't any coolant nor oil leaked anywhere, so it can't be a blown head gasket or a cracked block. Tried the compression tester on the front 3 cylinders. And like I said before, the starter turns freely, spinning the pulleys on the front of the engine. No resistance at all.

Could a cam sensor even cause this? It is plugged in fine, but I guess I don't know if it's bad.

[CNorell145]

The only thing I can think of now is that somehow a hole burnt in every piston at the same damn time... What are the chances?

[Scottydoggs]

i bet your gauge dont work. no plugs in the car, sure its gonna spin freely. test it in your lawn mower if you have one, anything, another car.

[CNorell145]

The plugs were in when it was free spinning - but I'll test it somewhere else.

[CNorell145]

Just tested it on a lawnmower, gauge worked fine.

[Scottydoggs]

how did the spark plugs look when they came out? still look like plugs? or smashed and missing parts off one or two? or three?

[CNorell145]

Haha, they still looked fine - and they were burning seemingly fine.

[Scottydoggs]

well its not funny if they were smashed, it means the pistons chipped and pieces hit the plug end. aka blown engine. but that would explain no compression.

i dont have a clue how or why its got no compression. very odd.

[Russosaur]

Can you borrow a borescope to check out the cylinders? Maybe that would show something.

Sent from the Milky Way

[tomtom123]

Lol you just have a way with this car ^_^
I am interested to see what the problem is!

[CNorell145]

It was the way you typed it, thought there was a hint if sarcasm. But I figured it out just not. Snapped the end of the camshaft off. Clean break at the gear. No idea how that's even possible.