DOA XR

[jdjinkins]

Bought an XR4Ti on ebay. Arrived on the back of semi trailer covered in road grime, it had been loaded right behind the rear wheels of the truck. Semi driver said that it had cranked and been driven on to the trailer, but it wouldn't crank on arrival. Battery turned the motor, and with a squirt of starter fluid it would run for a second. The only thing I've tried so far is to push the little white inertia switch in the trunk area which didn't help. Where would you go from here.

[deathbypsi]

Can you hear the fuelpump prime when you turn the key?

[Rooster]

I would check the fuel pump relay/fuse

[merkurdriver]

Can you hear the fuelpump prime when you turn the key?

( x 2 ) Let us know the answer to this question. First things first.

[richardcurtis]

First, check that fuel is getting to the spark plug. Second, there should be a healthy BLUE spark at the spark plug (if any color other than blue, replace the coil; if no spark, suspect would be the TFI module or the distributor). Third, if you have fuel in the right place and a strong spark, check for correct timing and that the belt isn't stripped or broken. Fourth, if all of these are okay, check compression.

There are many reasons why a car won't start (beginning with the battery, especially this time of year) but these four are good places to start.

[jdjinkins]

Ready to go do my troubleshooting I hooked up the battery that I had had charged back up a couple of weeks ago, but hooked the battery cables up backwards (I was putting them on correctly when my father told me I had them going on backwards). With no power and not yet realizing that I had put the cables on backward, I brought over the portable jump starter, and when I touched the positive post a remarkable spark was produced. That's when I realized my error. Switched the cable to their correct positions, still no power. Took the battery out over the other XR; no power at all. Lights won't turn on.

This is the 2nd time the car has had to endure a cable mix up. When it was on the truck and wouldn't start, we ran the battery down trying to get it to go, and the driver used his portable battery starter and put it on backwards. In the owner's manual it mentions that the fuse link will blow in such a case. Where's the fuse link? Is it that little piece coming off the negative cable that you can pull apart?

[jdjinkins]

Ok. I went out pulled the fuse apart. Put back together, and started the car! with white smoke coming out the exhaust. Drove about 5 miles. Parked. An hour later tried to start it. Motor turned over engine caught coughed sputtered and died. Couldn't get it to run. But it is cranking over.

[Rooster]

i would start with getting a new fuse/ relay it might be all messed up or you had a bad connect does the fuel pump prime?