Hey guys. I tried to start my car after work today but all it did was crank. It didn't start at all.

Battery worked fine. Cranked strong. But it just wouldn't start. I checked the fuel purge and there was fuel. I changed my spark plugs to some e3 plugs a while ago but have been driving great.

But the car has been leaking something. Its toward the front passenger side. But now im afraid what if it got into the optispark. Just wanted to hear some ideas.

It sounds like VATS is playing with your mind. Let it sit 10 minutes, clean the key, retry.

I did let it sit for several minutes. Kept retrying. Why would VATS be the problem and how?

There is resister puck thingy on your key. The cylinder reads it, sends the resistance to the CCM. At which point, the CCM sends the instruction to the PCM to start or not.

Now, have you check the coil and wire? If there is a weakness there, it will create a spark, just one that isn't strong enough to fire off the mixture.

I think the "thingy" on your key is okay, VATS prevents starter operation, if it cranks you have another problem. Check it for codes first then basics such as fuel pressure and spark to the plugs. If your leak is antifreeze from the water pump weep hole it could be an Opti problem, good luck.

ok this is weird.

This morning I stopped by work to take a look at my car. It stayed overnight.

I tried to turn it on but nothing. Just cranks but won't fire up. But all of a sudden the "hatch" for the back kept releasing the back window. WTF? When the key is on everything is ok but I turned it off. Closed the doors and the "hatch" keeps releasing every 10 seconds or so. WTF!?!?! LOL

Anybody have this problem?

ok I got some new information.

I had my car towed to my house. for the hell of it. I started it and it fired up!!! It took a little while but it started but for the first few seconds it idled very low but picked up a little. I drove it a little. let it sit for a few minutes then all of a sudden the car died out. I turned off the key and started it again. I revved it up a lot but reved just fine..

what could it be!?!?!

I've seen this problem caused by both faulty ignition modules and faulty voltage regulators that open up intermittently when hot.

Put a timing light on there and see if you're getting spark during the no-start and stall.

I had the same hatch thing happen to mine after hooking up the battery after doing some work on the car. I would suggest disconnecting the battery and cleaning up the terminals. Its cheep easy and might help.

VATS will have nothing to do with it, if it turns over as TopTechx6 says, youve got no VATS issue. No idea why your hatch would be cycling every 10 seconds, but i wouldnt expect that to be related, and if so, not dirrectly.

Having fuel at the rail is no indication that youve got pressure, or enough pressure, and at the moment, thats where id be looking first. Pull the fuel pump out and have a ganda at that, mainly the strainer on the bottom.

Consider filling the tank with new fuel and replacing the in-line filter. The new fuel may not help one bit, so drain the old fuel into a container so you can use it again if there is nothing wrong with it.

Check the spark and see how strong it is. Get rid of those plugs and put some NGKs in there. You cant adjust the gap on those E3s and if the gap is too big from wear youll cause undue wear on the cap and rotor.

Pull the battery terminals off and give them a good clean up, mainly the negtive, and then check some grounds.

I had a simular sort of issue with my 94 last week and although it would start and run, it was rough as guts, took a fair bit to start, and didnt go right. I went over the whole car and pulled alot of things apart, and i couldnt fault anything. When i filled up the tank at the start of this week, the car started running better on the 10 mile drive home and hasnt missed a beat since.

I keep forgetting that VATS will stop it from cranking, too.

I am wondering... is fuel pressure adequate? Low fuel pressure will effect start up and such.

I don't feel it's the opti. I would expect codes, too.

I also like Casey's final assessment - it could be bad gas. I would toss a bottle of drygas in and see if that clears it. If so, I would also replace the fuel filter.

Hey guys I have an update and well tell me what you think about this.

I took off my E3 Spark Plugs. I went to a local auto parts store to see if they had any A/C Delco Platinum which I used before. I could see that my E3 plugs were darker than my platinum even thought I had them on MAXIMUM 2 weeks.

The gentlemen stated im running rich which I already know but never had a problem. He suggested the E3 plugs probably couldn't handle my car being that rich and that's probably why I had problems. I bought some NGK G-Power which he said is a bit hotter.

I put them on. Car started right up. I drove around for a bit the car responded a lot better at lower RPMS (Higher RPMS it felt like it was the same) but it felt quicker. I drove it around and it felt great. Didn't notice anything unusual. But then again we'll see. What do you guys think?

I think he is spot on about the E3 plugs not liking the rich mix, being what they are they can foul quite easy.

I wouldnt have expected that to fix it, but youve got to be happy about the fact it seems to have it sorted

Forgive me for this newb question but I have only installed my spark plugs twice. After doing some reading I realized I didn not put any anti-size lubricant or anything during the installation.

Is this absolutely necessary? if it is then i'll be more than happy to do it tomorrow. just want to know what could happen if i dont use it and i didnt use it on my last installation with E3 plugs.

Nothing. Ive only used it a couple times myself, and itl have no effect whatso ever on the running of the engine.

in the worst case they may seize in the heads, but its never happened to me yet. I use it now only cause ive got heaps of it here, but if youre going to use it, make sure its a non metalic anti seize, like assembly lube (i use CarGo part# 3303)

If the fuel pump was half-assing it the car would at least run for a bit and sputter.

But if you insist, you can do a listening test on the pump, find a very quiet place and have someone turn the key on while you listen from under the tank. A good pump will make a steady 2 sec hum. A dying pump will make sputtering/gargling noises. Turn key off, wait 5 seconds, and turn it back on to check again.