Originally posted by JVStylez
Mine only has the problem were when its been off for awhile it takes 3 cranks to start the thing. When the cars been on for awhile it turns on the first time. ECU related

The reason your car doesn't immediately fire on the first try when it's cold has nothing to do with the ECU, and it's not a problem. It's because the fuel has partially drained back to the tank after a day or two of sitting. Try priming the fuel pump a couple times when the car's been sitting. It'll fire immediately.


Now, onto the original poster's question. You have to have three things to make the engine run. Spark, fuel and compression.

You said you're getting spark although two cylinders are weak. I believe you said 1+4 are weak. This is a possibility with the wasted spark design as 1 and 4 are "partner" cylinders. The computer fires these as a pair, then fires 3+2 as a pair. I'm suspicious of this. The spark could be getting snuffed out on two cylinders, and it won't run on two cylinders. (Trust me) Check the connection to your coil pack You'll notice there are three wires. One is a ground and the other two are for the two banks of plugs. Is a wire in rough shape, disconnected? Also check around the EGR tube (underneath the throttle body, goes into the back of the intake manifold), since it gets very hot and could have melted some wires, a known problem. Check very carefully. Also, if you're getting spark it should rule out the ASD relay and cam/crank sensors.

Fuel? The easiest way to check this would be to crank it and then pull the spark plugs. Smell them. Gas? Good. No gas? Good-since you found your problem. No gas = fuel pump relay, fuel pump, fuel pump sock, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator or kinked/blocked fuel line.

Timing--Have you pulled the inspection cover from the timing belt to make sure it's turning? Timing is the most difficult to check, since it involves more than just pulling spark plugs. Go here if you have both fuel and spark.

It could be a lot of things. If you have fuel and spark, you could also check compression since that's easy. I know it's not on a warm motor (which it's supposed to be done), but you could check for dead cylinders even if it's cold.

We need some more info to help focus on a particular part, hope this helps solve your problem.

Brian