A few months ago my car stopped starting

MASONGAYDOS

MEMBER
1996 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
208,000 MILES

A few months ago my car stopped starting and someone gave me the idea to stick a screwdriver through the solenoid and it started like that for months. Last week it finally stopped actually turning over. It will crank but not start. Took it to a mechanic and he said it was anti theft lockout and managed to take out an aftermarket alarm system and now it will crank with the key instead of the screwdriver but will not start. And it seems he has no idea what to do now. He told me he tried tried to relearn the key and it did not work. Any suggestions?

Thursday, October 18th, 2018 AT 12:59 AM

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

If the engine turns over then this is not the starter or theft system. This is an air, fuel, compression, spark issue.

So, we need to start crossing these off the list.

I doubt this is a compression issue because nothing happened to cause an issue there so let's come back to that.

Let's start with fuel and then spark. Here is a guide that will help with fuel pressure.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-fuel-system-pressure-and-regulator

If you have pressure, then we need to pull the spark plug and crank the engine to find out if we have spark.

Here is a guide that will help with this:

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

Please run through this info and let me know what you find. Thanks

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Tuesday, December 14th, 2021 AT 7:39 AM