Car won't start, please help!

[Gu5To]

1998 LE, Automatic

The car was working fine Friday, but wouldn't start Saturday morning.
At first, the car would start but die almost immediately. I tried starting and giving it gas which worked, but the car would die immediately after i stopped revving. Now the car is not even starting when I rev, but still cranks strong.

I have tried jumping the car even though I knew this was unlikely, as I was able to get the car started the first few times. Obviously, this did not work.

I have checked to make sure there was a spark going through the wires.

I have checked the EFI fuse and it is not blown. There is 1/3 tank of gas.

The car is parked in an underground garage so towing it would be difficult. I would rather get the problem fixed, even temporarily, just to get it out of the garage.

Also, Friday night was our first sub-zero night.

Any ideas?
Thanks for the help!

[randini667]

First few things that came to mind were...

1) Fuel pump and/or relay
2) Water in the gas
3) the CTS (unlikely, but I would check it anyway)

It's a place to start. Anyone else?

-Randy

[Gu5To]

Thanks for your reply!

I just checked the fuel pump and it is working fine. Disconnected the fuel line, cranked it and fuel came through.

Any other ideas?

[randini667]

When you tried to start the engine, were you pumping or pushing the pedal at all? Possible that you are flooding it out?

-Randy

[Woodyg]

if you spray starter fluid or put gas in the throttle body does it run? if it does you have sprak. Has it thrown any codes? a bad fuel pressure regulator can cause to much fuel and keep it from running.

[CJCride]

Try gasline antifreeze. Can't hurt.

[Gu5To]

Thanks for all the responses!
When i checked for spark, I only pulled the coil from cylinder 1.
I checked the rest the other night and found oil all over the plugs in 2 and 3.
I now think I have a bad valve cover gasket which has led to the flooding.
I am going to open it up, clean up the oil, replace the gasket and plugs. I'm hoping this will get the car going again.

Wish me luck! Thanks again for the suggestions.

[Gu5To]

So frustrated!!

Changed valve cover gasket and plugs, did not work.
Checked again that all 4 spark plug wires were giving spark.
Cleaned throttle body and IAC valve, did not work.

Any other ideas? So pissed off now.

[superdav]

I have a similar problem
the car is very hard to start, cranks and cranks no matter what outside temp is, i have changed the pump and regulator with no improvement

[briankmizell]

My 98 Corolla is doing the same thing, at first it just missed when slightly revved and whenunder a load. Then it got to where it wouldnt start unless you gave it a tad bit of gas (very odd considering its a FI car) Now it wont start at all, its getting fire, but no fuel.

My plugs were covered in oil just like the other guy had mentioned. It wasnt burnt oil, it was fresh oil. Not sure why its doing that, the only time the car ever smokes is when its revved hard (say 4700 + rpms) it doesnt smoke bad, but it puts out a bluish white smoke.

I've cleaned the plugs with laquer thinner, checked all the connections to the coils etc like I said it is getting fire, not the greatest but it is. The sparks are whitish-yellow, sometimes orange..... but not blue.

does anyone have a picture of the fuel pump relay, I found one relay on the drivers side kick panel, but not sure if its the correct one.

I am hoping its a relay and not the fuel pump.