90 Pulsar XE won't start

Heero · May 13th, 2008, 09:15 AM

Long time lurker. First...or second time poster.

Backstory:
1990 Nissan Pulsar XE 1.6L SOHC. Rebuilt at 150,000 miles. Roughly 30,000 miles on the engine now. Car has never given me a problem. Always started up.

The Problem:
I left last friday to go down to out of town and left my car parked in the road outside my house. Getting home rather late on Sunday night I didn't have any need to drive my car until the following morning when I tried to go to work. I got in and the engine kicked, but just wouldn't start. Dashlights were working and not dimming when I hit the ignition, so I know it isn't the battery.

I popped the hood and everything looked normal. A bit of moisture on the motor, but we'd had a rainstorm, and rainstorms never caused my car not to start in the past. Checked to make sure plugs where connected, which they were. Got a screwdriver and checked for spark, which I was getting.
Got back in the car and turned it on, but didn't start it and heard the fuel pump turn on and build up pressure.

Took of the air cleaner to be sure that my injector was working, sure enough it was spraying fuel, but the fuel did look odd. Sprayed some starter fluid into the intake and kicked it over. Still nothing. I then took a ride up to the local Autozone and picked up some new plugs, figuring they might be fouled. Gapped and installed the new plugs...still won't start. Now the old plugs were covered in a bit of crud. On a whim I used a match to try and light the liquid on the end of the plug, i.e. gas will burn, and it didn't.

The only thing I can think is that I've somehow gotten a tank of bad gas, which is odd because I filled up on Monday of last week and drove for five days on the tank (still have 3/4 of a tank). This has led me to think something may have been 'put' in my gas tank, but before I start kicking some teenager ass, I'd like to get a second opinion.

I'm out of ideas and any help would be appreciated. This car has been wonderful since I bought it and I would really like to get her on the road again. That and its hard to buy parts when you can't get to work.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

leadpaw · May 13th, 2008, 10:12 AM

hey man,
well lets think of what you need for combustion, air, spark, and fuel.It sounds like you have all three, and i doubt its a compression problem. I suspect it is the fuel, there could be water in it or it could be just super old, open the gas cap and take a wiff does it smell like varnish? it could be your fuel. I would also check the fuel filter if it has one, i cant remember from the last time i was in the junkyard where it is located, but it could be that also, yet that is still unlikely because it didn't kick over when you used starter fluid. So yea imo your in the right track suspecting it is the fuel.

Heero · May 13th, 2008, 10:27 AM

Glad to see I'm point in the right direction.

The gas did smell a bit funny when I took a wiff of the throttle body. I'll stick my nose in the tank and see what I find.

greenbean699 · May 13th, 2008, 10:45 AM

pull your engine codes off the ecu, you could have a bad sensor making it not start. if you dont have a repair manual then nows the best time to get one.

Heero · May 13th, 2008, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenbean699

pull your engine codes off the ecu, you could have a bad sensor making it not start. if you dont have a repair manual then nows the best time to get one.

Would I need a diagnostic tool to pull the engine codes?

Mervic · May 13th, 2008, 05:40 PM

If your engine is GA16i, on the ECU has LED's and the combination of flashes will tell you the code/s.

Heero · May 14th, 2008, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mervic

If your engine is GA16i, on the ECU has LED's and the combination of flashes will tell you the code/s.

Thanks.

But I think I found the problem.

Found this yesterday morning. I couldn't see it the night before. The gasket had in fact warped out of shape and left a good chunk of area exposed to the elements.

I let the engine dry out for a day and it started right up. But now I'm wondering about something else. There seem to be two rubber blocks on the side of my distributor. They block two large holes on each side of the distributor. In addition they form part of the lip for the gasket that seals the cap. Any ideas on what these little guys are called, they're pretty tore up and I'd like to get new ones, but ever part store I talk to thinks I'm nutz.

greenbean699 · May 14th, 2008, 11:01 AM

thats probably gonna be a dealer part. i would call them dist. grommets and gasket. Also if the seal goes bad in the dist. it will let oil in and it will get on the crank angel sensor and will not run right or not at all.