Engine shut off while driving and now it will turn over but not start

JESSCRISP614

MEMBER
1999 PLYMOUTH VOYAGER
2.4L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
175,000 MILES

My van was running fine then I left home and made it 6 miles away and it quit running.I assumed it was out of gas because it was very low but after adding 4-5 gallons of gas and charging the battery it still won't start.I need help, we have to get it off the side of road and I need my ride to work back. ASAP

3 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Hi,

We need to find out if you have spark and fuel. The way to do this is to start with fuel because that is easier. Spray a little starter fluid in the intake to see if the engine tries to start. If not, then we move onto spark. If it starts, then we have a fuel issue. There is a chance that we have an air pocket in the fuel line that the pump cannot overcome. This is unlikely in more modern cars but it is a chance.

If it does not start then we need to move onto spark and make sure we have spark. Do this by pulling a plug and holding it against the block to see if it sparks. If not, we can go down this path.

I suspect you have a fuel issue but again, it is just a guess until we get more information.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-cranks-but-wont-start

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Wednesday, October 9th, 2019 AT 4:50 PM

JESSCRISP614

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Well, we tried everything. It is getting spark, it is getting fuel. I am at my wit's end. I don't know what to do. It will not try to start at all not st any point. It only cranks. I am just wondering if it's electrical, or something to do with the fact that the day before she broke down the steering wheel locked up and my boyfriend YouTubed how to manually release the locked steering column. He took off the cover of steering wheel and somehow unlocked it. But could that have something to do with it?

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Saturday, October 12th, 2019 AT 9:54 PM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Not necessarily. If it is cranking then I wouldn't think it does. However, I am wondering if we fouled the spark plugs. If it is cranking and there is fuel then we may have caused the plugs to not have sufficient spark to ignite the air/fuel mixture.

At this point, I would replace the spark plugs and then try it again.

Also, it is unlikely to have a bad crank sensor because you more than likely would not have spark but we can't rule it out yet.

Let me know what happens after you put new plugs in it and we can go from there. Thanks

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/camshaft-angle-sensor-replacement

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Sunday, October 13th, 2019 AT 11:34 AM