Cranks but will not start

DUNCAN HARMAN

MEMBER
1999 CADILLAC ESCALADE
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
149,900 MILES

Car sat for about a week (it started and had no issues before this though). I went to start it and it took a few tries to get it started and when it did it ran really rough and I had to keep giving it gas to stay running. Once it would stay running without my help I let it run for about ten minutes while I swept the carpets. I got in it and back out seemed fine but when I started going it hesitated and seemed like it did not want to move. After a couple miles it seemed to be running better but not perfect. I took it to the car wash and turned it off while I washed it and when I went to start it it took about five minutes of cranking to get it started and it ran horrible the entire eight to ten mile trip home. At one point it slowed down from 62 to about 50 without any change in pressure on accelerator then went back up to about 65 shortly. I parked it yesterday and it has not started since.
Things I tried were cleaned the MAF, air cleaner that did not help any. Fuel pump seems to be kicking on as I can hear it when I turn key on without trying to start the car. I tried starter fluid in the carburetor thinking maybe a clogged fuel filter, but it would not start still. Not to good at diagnosis but usually can fix the issues if I know what it is. So any help at potential issues or things to try would be great!

5 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
42,883 POSTS

Hello,

This sounds like you have a crankshaft angle sensor that is going out can I ask if you have a check engine light on?

Here is a guide to show you what you are in for when changing the crankshaft sensor out:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

and

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

Please run down these guides and report back.

Cheers, Ken

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Tuesday, February 20th, 2018 AT 1:01 PM

DUNCAN HARMAN

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Yes I do have a check engine light on. My father in law is going to run the codes this week so we can see what they are since I cannot get it started. I was thinking this could be a possibility once I saw another person with the same issues but they did not reply saying that fixed it. I will cross my fingers this is the problems and update this once I find out the solution! Thanks for the suggestion Ken!

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Tuesday, February 20th, 2018 AT 1:05 PM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
42,883 POSTS

Please do! :)

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Tuesday, February 20th, 2018 AT 4:59 PM

DUNCAN HARMAN

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Well even though there was a check engine light on at one point it was off when I tried reading the codes so that was a no go. I did check feul pressure and was reading almost 60psi so that looked good as well. We check for spark and it looked like we were getting spark so we tried firing it up and my father in law said it sounded like it was sparking somewhere it shouldn’t. So we yanked the distributor cap off and he said it look really wet inside so we sprayed it down with WD40 and dried it off a bit and threw it back together. Looks like that could be the issue as it started right up and idled fine for about 10 minutes. He said it looks like there was a crack in the cap and must have gotten some wetness in it from that. Going to get a new cap and rotor set and throw on it and if that works great if not I will try the crankshaft position sensor and update thread afterwards! Thanks for the help in trying to lead me in the correct direction!

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Monday, February 26th, 2018 AT 5:01 AM

KEN L