OregonJoe Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Hello, new member here... I have a 1994 Legacy with the auto trans.... 300k on the odometer. I have driven the car for a couple years and its been great.... Reliable and awesome in the snow. Well reliable until today... I stopped for some food, it has been snowing and turning to rain and slush.... Got back in the car and when I started it, the engine ran really rough, like it was firing on one or two cylinders. Turned it off..... Checked my fluids and generally around the engine... Saw nothing out of place or disconnected. Tried starting again and the same thing, really rough and super low idle RPM. Then it wouldn't start at all, just cranks. Had a friend come rescue me, and we hooked up a plug to one of the wires and grounded it... Seemed to have decent spark. Any Ideas about what went wrong? Any classic problems that this might describe? I plan to borrow a scan tool tomorrow. Maybe fuel pump went out? Thanks for any response in advance. - Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Can you not hear the fuel pump from inside/outside of the car? Remove the outlet hose on the fuel filter and put the hose into an empty water bottle and then try to start the car, if you get fuel then the pump is probably good. If you get fuel then I'd start looking at sensor connectors to see if anything is disconnected or not fully connected. Also to quickly check spark all you have to do it lightly pull up on the plug boot while the cars running, don't pull hard enough to pull the boot off of the plug, but just enough to hear the popping which indicates it's sparking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonJoe Posted December 10, 2016 Author Share Posted December 10, 2016 Thanks for the response... I did confirm it has spark. I never could hear the fuel pump when it was running, but my ears aren't that good anymore. Many years working in machine shops, etc... I'll try that fuel test. I was told that the cam timing could have jumped. Is there a way to easily confirm if this is the problem? Thanks again, - Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Checking cam timing is a fairly easy job but it's a time consuming one. You have to remove the plastic dust cover from the timing belt, the hardest part about this is removing the crank pulley but other than that it's straight forward, just turn the engine over by starter or bar it over and make sure the timing marks line up on the cams and crank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonJoe Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Thanks again for your response... I appreciate it. Good News! After letting it rest overnight it started as usual. I think maybe the coil packs get wet. Seems to be running great. Thanks again, - Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Thanks again for your response... I appreciate it. Good News! After letting it rest overnight it started as usual. I think maybe the coil packs get wet. Seems to be running great. Thanks again, - Joe My car did the same thing, if would get pretty unhappy when I drove it in the rain. I went and got a can of electrical cleaner and a tube of dielectric grease, and cleaned all the connectors and filled them with grease and since then it hasn't giving me any issue since. So for $12 and maybe 20-25 mins it's happy in all weather now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCEJ22E1 Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 I'd say check your intake for any leaking or cracked hoses, and if that looks okay, prep to clean your IACV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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