1988 Plymouth Reliant ignition problems

RCWORLD5

MEMBER
1988 PLYMOUTH RELIANT
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
17,200 MILES

Hi I have a 1988 Plymouth Reliant with a 2.2L 4cyl with a manual 5 spd. I have been driving it fine all winter and for about 7 months I have had it absolutly no problems. I started it up and drove it to my neghbors house and parked it, went in for like 10 min. Cam back out to start it and it cranks loud and strong like normal but wont start. So I went back in for maybe 20min. Came out to try and it started right up. So I revved it up a lil and it conked out on like the 3rd time I revved it it went up in rpms then jus died. So then I tried something I had done on a pervious car I owned that fixed it and that was that I put in in gear (reverse) and started it and it jumped like twice, then I pushed in the cltuch and it started right up. But now it wont start again, Please help I need the car for school and work. Thank you!

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
108,164 POSTS

Hi:
this could be a few things. We need to narrow it down. When the car won't start, you need to check if it is getting spark to the plugs and fuel to the engine. If it fires a few seconds with starting fluid (follow directions on can) then it is getting spark and there is a problem with the fuel system. If it doesn't even try to start, pull a plug, connect the plug wire to it, ground the plug against the engine block or other ground, and crank the engine to see if you are getting spark.

Let me know what you find.
Joe