99 sebring jxi won't start
 

Hi everyone, this is my first post so i will try to be as detailed as possible. I recently bought a 99 sebring jxi convertible with the 2.5l 6 cylinder engine. When i was driving home i noticed it smelled like it was running very rich but it ran well so i thought nothing of it. after a few short drives it began having issue where it would stall out if i came to a stop and would be very difficult to restart. it is now at a point where it will not start at all. I am trying to trace the problem and am running out of ideas so I am hoping someone here can help me. So far I have replaced nearly everything due to the poor upkeep that was done by the previous owner. It has a new fuel filter and fuel pump, It has a new crank position senser, new MAF, new throttle position sensor, new pcv valve, new alternator, new battery, new plugs and plug wires, and new fuel injectors, and a new alternator. the distributor has not been replaced but it was tested and all 6 plugs do spark and in the correct timing. I have checked the compression and checked for vacuum leaks and both came up good. I also checked the cam timing and it was perfectly lined up with the timing marks. I think that covers everything I've fixed and inspected so i really hope someone can shed some light on this because i'm about outa funds and patients for this car

I apologize for the double post but i couldn't find an edit option, I should aso mention i replaced the air filter, cleaned the throttle body thoroughly, and changed the oil.

Well with all you have just replaced and still it won't start, does not leave a lot to offer. One of the problems with doing "plug and play" verses proper diagnostics. Codes can be retrieved from these with a code scanner, but what concerns me is that you say it smelled of running rich before it completely died. could have plugged up cat. converters.
Will it fire on a shot of ether (starting fluid) down the air intake? If so you are not getting fuel to start/run normally.

OK, BUT there is also the electrically actuated fuel injectors to figure if they are spraying, hence the starting fluid trick. are you sure you have spark? Also the ASD relay on the firewall can go bad and not allow fuel injectors/ spark from happening. IF you have spark and you supply the fuel(starting fluid) it should run until that is used up. So from you info...something is not right in adding up to being able to run.

I have not checked to make sure the injectors are spraying and its possible one of the new ones i put in is defective so i will test that when i get home and ill spray some ther just in case, i tested each plug by pulling it and grounding it to the frame and they all have a strong spark. I will test those things after work and post an update when im done, fingers crossed she fires up. thanks for the suggestions so far.

Also double check the plus wires for proper position in the dist cap! When you crank the starter does the motor seem to "buck" while cranking and not spin smoothly?

I'l double check the wires, this car has been such I headache I may have hooked them back up wrong during one of my more frustrated moments. When I crank it theirs no bucking or anything like that.

I KNOW that they are rather hard to work on, as I have a 98 model of the Dodge brother 2.5 AVENGER. Thankfully at 110k miles it has been VERY dependable and NO troubles such as you encounter.

This one has been used and abused, it' at 115k miles and has had zero maintenane done before I bought it. It still even had the factory air filter in it.

Mine is pretty much orig. other than fuel filter, exhaust flex pipes, alternator and Valve cover gaskets and plug well seals. But plugs, cap, rotor are insprected annually! Plugs for the rear are a BUMMER to do!Darned manifold design for low hoodline!

Ok so I finally have an update, I got the car to run by outing a couple zip ties on the end of a worn out vacuum lone fitting, their ends the good news. Now for the bad news.
I assume I know the fix for this next issue but I want to make sure theirs not something else to check while I'm under it. I have not been able to replace the catalytic converter yet because the bolts are hard to reach and rounded off as well, this matters because the cat has a large hole in it. Second is the 02 sensors, the old sensors are seized in place and even with a torch they wouldn't break loose.
I plugged in the new 02 sensors into the harness but since i cant get the old sensor unscrewed i zip tied the new sensors up out of the way until I can finally replace the cat. believe these 2 issues are the combined are the cause of a severe loss of power and a very rich fuel mixture causing a flame to come out of the cat hole.

I feel like my last update wasn't clear at all, I'm trying to verify if the hole in the cat, combined with the o2 sensor being plugged in but not installed in the cat could cause the car to spit flame from the hole and have severely reduced power

Do you imagine that plugging in an oxygen sensor to the computer but NOT installing it in the exhaust stream would NOT cause problems of driveability? Are you serious?

I know it will cause into run rough, but I had to do the same to my old eclipse and never had a flame issue. If I leave them unplugged it wont start or idle at all though

Did your old Eclipse have a hole in the cat?

No it didn't but it also never had the flame issue, the old 02 sensors were frozen in so badly I couldn't get them out so I plugged in New sensors and zip ties them up outa the way, it ran rough but it did run, that's why I'm wondering if doing the same thing to the same while it does have the hole is possibly the cause of the flames

With the sensors not operating in the exhaust stream where they belong, it could be that the computer is thinking that the engine is running very lean and is pouring gasoline in there to the point that raw fuel is hitting the converter and who knows what is going on there. The system was never intended to run like that so anything might be going on. I don't understand how you would know that you didn't have a flame inside the cat on your eclipse if there was no hole to see inside.