Bearkat
04-10-2006, 11:13 PM
Well my car '99 Impreza L decided not to start on me when I was gonna go home today. It cranked over but it acted like there was no spark. Finally after an hour of fiddling with things and getting no where, it starts. :confused: So I drove it home and when I was gonna go out tonight it started doing the same thing. It just cranks and cranks but won't start. I tried to start it so much by battery is pretty much dead now, but I'm gonna go get it charged and checked out in the morning. I hear the fuel pump and smell a little gas from the tail pipe but I think there's no spark at the coil, but I can't test it with just me there. What else could be the problem?
1tightrex
04-10-2006, 11:36 PM
I don't know much about 99 Imprezas, is there a distributer cap on those?
If there is take off the cap and spin the rotor I have seen cars do this before and the rotors were stripped out. They are plastic and on rare occations their sleeve strips out I replaced the one in my girlfriends legacy for $7 and it worked perfect again.
Mulder
04-11-2006, 09:45 AM
No distributor, there is a coil pack on top of the engine.
Bearkat
04-11-2006, 10:51 AM
Mulder is right. There is a coil pack. I don't have an ohm meter to test the coil pack either. Does O'Reilly, Napa, or Autozone test those? Also should I change my plugs since I probably flooded my engine ten times over? This car has given me nothing but headaches since I have gotten it.:( What could be wrong?
Mulder
04-11-2006, 11:46 AM
There are many things that can cause this, we have no way of knowing what it is from here.
You can certainly remove the plugs to inspect and/or change them, you're probably right that they are hopelessly flooded at this point.
If you can get another person to help you for a few minutes, pull one of the coil wires out just enough so you can see inside, then have them crank the engine. If there is a spark you should see it jumping the gap.
No spark doesn't necessarily mean a bad coil, it may just not be getting energized for some reason.
I'd suggest going to your local forum and asking for assistance, someone nearby may be willing to help. At the least you should be able to get a recommendation for a competent local shop to take it to.
seanski06
04-11-2006, 11:51 AM
may be a stupid question ....but do u have a check engline light come up
Bearkat
04-11-2006, 12:54 PM
may be a stupid question ....but do u have a check engline light come up
Yes, when the car was running a check engine light would be on all the time, even if I reset the ecu, but when I went to have it scaned at two different places (Autozone and a friend who has the exact same tool as Aitozone) it was showing no codes. :confused: I am having my battery charged right now at Autozone, which it tested fine. I hope my car will start up today when I get it back. :mad:
Bearkat
04-11-2006, 05:05 PM
Well I got my battery back fully charged, and I cleaned the fuel fouled spark plugs a little. Guess what?!? The car started right back up. I let it idle for a little bit. Then I tured it off for a few minutes, and then started it again to get some gas. Well, it's been fine since. I hope this problem doesn't happen again! Who know what it could have been.