Hi All,
I could use some help troubleshooting an issue with my car that died yesterday on the way home from work.
Car details: '89 Geo Metro 1L 5speed manual 4 door LSI
Problem/Issue: It hesitated and then stalled and would not restart on the way home from work yesterday about a mile away from my house.
Previous directly related symptoms: The last two days during stops on the way home from work- it jerked and lurched when starting out from a stop in 1st gear. Once I got the rpm's up and into second gear and above no hesitation symptoms anymore. This symptom only happened maybe 3-4 times during the last two days which includes 2 stops on the way home to drop off my carpool members. This has never happened before.
Things I've tried:
I originally thought it was me accidentally bumping my kill switch or the kill switch failing or shorting some how during these accelerations. I've ruled this out by engaging the override switch that I installed back when I had installed the kill switch. This override removes the kill button circuit completely because I knew when the momentary button would fail it would fail open (when it wears out). I have also tried re attaching the wires going to the distributor to remove both the kill and override circuits (basically back to original wiring). So manual kill is not part of the problem.
I was initially thinking fuel pump, since history tells me they usually fail slowly and inconsistently and the symptom of hesitation only happened during initial acceleration.
What I have tried (so far):
While cranking (attempting to start):
I looked for spark at the plugs and found none.
I looked for spark out of the coil and found none.
I do measure 12V at the coil input.
I looked for fuel in the TBI throat and saw none.
Sprayed flammable fluid (no starting fluid so tried hairspray :-|) into TBI throat to see if it would catch but, NO.
I listened for fuel pump to buzz when key is put in ACC position. I usually hear the pump kick on but not now.
I made sure the cam is turning while cranking- timing belt checks ok.
Radiator and coolant level are fine.
There is a fuel pump relay but I don't know how to get it out or check it.
What could cause both fuel and spark to go away?
Other recent issues or possibly related or unrelated facts:
I filled up the tank 2 days ago, so yes I have gas and it reads over 1/2 tank full.
I had a catastrophic electrical failure 2 weeks ago when taking it camping. I had not used the lights for a few months and while driving to camping I had the head lights on and ALL electrical shut down (everything went black) when applying brakes (brake lights and had blinker on). Weird. Checked fuses- OK. Removed fuse box screws in engine compartment and moved it around and got the electrical back on. So this means I do have some kind of short or open in my electrical harnesses. Once I put the fuse box back and tightened the screws, though, no more electrical issues and all electrical has been fine for the last two weeks.
Today I'll borrow the Chilton or Haynes manual that the local library has with wiring diagrams. So I'll have things to look at and trace and measure but, I don't know where to start.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Things to check? More info?
Any help is greatly appreciated.