I've got spark and fuel, but now M20 won't start after being started??

[Balleristic31]

Ok so here's my situation

Motor completely resealed from pan to throttle body. New headgasket, timing belt etc..

5 speed swap was bought from an early model car (mine is late model) so some confusion was delt with (partially) with the starter wiring.

Anyway, yesterday Robert23 got the car running getting good fuel and spark. It ran with open headers and no coolant 3 times for about 10 seconds each time before we let it die.

Then randomly, the car stopped starting. We are still getting fuel and spark, and nothing else changed in between our start-no start situation. Im totally stumped.

The car occasionally almost starts but never fires completely. The injectors are all firing and im getting good spark.

Side note: there is a noticeable spark coming off the starters main terminal when cranking, which worries me a lot. Any ideas on this? related??


Help me out guys.

[Robert]

Theirs also a good amount of smoke coming from the starter area , it looks like.

[dnguyen1963]

impropered grounding can cause sparks. Have you checked your grounds?

[Balleristic31]

Any other ideas?

[codrum]

It cranks but it doesn't start? If you're getting spark and fuel I'd check to make sure you're not flooded. pull the spark plugs and crank the motor, see if you shoot any fuel out. The car would typically start with a lot of fuel a few times and then slowly foul the plugs and flood the cylinders.

[Balleristic31]

Interesting that seems to sound like my issue. Should I pull all the plugs and clean them?

[dnguyen1963]

Have you figured out the sparks and smoke problem yet? Another thing to check is your ignition coil.

[ANDRÜ]

If its flooded just take out the plugs, and any gas will squirt out. Worth a shot.

[barry]

Check Main Relay and crank sensor
GL
Barry