I'm working on a '96 with a 5-speed and 170k. Its been in my family since new, but hasn't been well maintained in several years, now my sister needs something to drive so I'm getting it back on the road.
I drove it pretty consistently a year or so ago and replaced plugs and wires, the o2 sensor in the exhaust manifold and the starter, I also changed the fuel filter about 2 years ago. It also has a new battery. It has had a rough power-band for several years (bucking at random speeds, little power). It seems like maybe it was a timing issue, but I tried a few things, the mechanic claimed he couldn't reproduce it, so we pretty much gave up and dealt with it. It would very occasionally run strong (like once every six months and with no real common factor between those times). The upside of having little power was that I got pretty great gas mileage (33mpg or more) mainly because it didn't help to push the engine any harder than it wanted to run. Now that I'm doing research with my current problem I'm starting to think maybe those issues could have been tps related? But anyway, on to the current situation:
Cranks strong (~2 year old starter)
sounds like it will catch, ran briefly (under 1 minute)
spark on all cylinders
fuel pump comes on as its supposed to (I know we aren't supposed to judge based on sound, but the fuel pump sounds like it always has)
Ran the codes on a buddy's OBDII iphone app, but since I'd had to replace the battery it was only showing one fault code which was low signal from tps.
I'm running out of time to devote to the project. I could swap TPS, crank position sensor, ICM, coils maybe, various fuel system parts... before I did that or give up and tow it to the mechanic (who, mercifully is inexpensive and reliable) I thought I'd open it up to you guys.... Ideas?
Update: will start but real really poorly (again, seems like timing problem) on starter fluid. Just for kicks reset the passlock anti-theft nonsense. No change.
Without a helper, I've just been spraying a quantity of starter fluid into the TB and then starting the car. It'll run for a period of time, seems to be dependent on the length blast of starter fluid I spray in. Clearly the injectors aren't adding anything to the party. I will say that if I open the throttle, either the gas pedal or from the TB it will pretty much instantly die... don't know if that has any bearing on anything.
Further update: I have power to my injectors. So we are dealing with, what.... fuel pressure regulator?
If it will run on starter fluid, I would check your fuel pressure. It may be that the fuel pump is failing.
