97 Cirrus cranks but won't start
 

Car is a 1997 Chrysler Cirrus LX 6 cylinder motor.

When I first bought the car it was stalling and would not start until it cooled down. To remedy this we replaced the crankshaft sensor, thermostat, EGR valve, spark plugs, idle air sensor, and the distributor cap. We also cleaned out the oils pan and spark plug reservoir as the previous owner flooded it with oil causing it to spill over in to the plugs. It ran fine for a while but eventually started stalling again. We have been a bit hard up for cash so we drove it and just put up with the stalling as it only happened very occasionally and only while at idle.


Last week it finally decided to give out. As I was about to head to work it started then stalled out about 30 seconds later. At this point it would crank but not turn over. We tried starting fluid and it started up. So thinking it was fuel related we changed the fuel pump and filter. After this we attempted to start with the same problem, crank but won't turn over. This time though it wouldn't go with starting fluid.

Although I purchased a new car, I am hoping to find a low cost fix to be able to use this as a secondary vehicle for my wife, but we are really not able to continue throwing cash at it.

My hope is that it could be the MAP sensor, but before spending the $70 for the new sensor I am hoping for a second opinion.

Does anyone have any ideas on what this could be? My fear is that the new fuel pump created a surge of power that snapped the timing belt and caused other damage, but I am just not sure what to think.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Might as well have a look at the timing belt. If it's that, there's no point in looking at anything else and you can decide whether you want to pursue it any further.

The distributors in those engines are somewhat notorious, and people have reported bad luck with aftermarket replacements. It's not a cheap item, so maybe it's time for some soul-searching with Ol' Betsy. Is it throwing any codes?

No codes... We pulled out the plugs on the front, and they are full of oil, which has me believing the timing belt is slipped or broken. The timing belt is not terribly accessible on this car, and really requires some doing to get at it. It's going to a real garage this weekend (as opposed to my home garage) so we can open her up.

Really just hoping someone would have some easy thoughts before we get to the major surgery.

If the distributor is driven off the camshaft, (not sure if it is but most engines are designed that way) you should be able to tell if the camshaft is turning by pulling the distributor cap and cranking the engine. If the rotor turns, the belt isn't broken.