2001 Cavalier 2.2L, spark, compression, will not fire with starter fluid
10

Asked by rhn0327 Dec 21, 2014 at 11:20 AM about the Chevrolet Cavalier

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My sons car died right as his wife was getting home.  She thinks she knows a lot so she always intersperses her "symptoms" with things that make no sense.  According to her the engine made a single thump followed by a loss of power and some other metallic noises, but she was able to drive a few more miles to the house and the engine died right before she got to the driveway.

The next day when I went to the car, the engine would not turn over.  My son said they had left the key on overnight.  I checked he battery and it was at 9 volts.  I tried jumping the car with a spare battery I had and the engine seemed to crank real slow with no sign of firing.  I tried some starter fluid and still no sign of firing.  I removed the battery and brought it back to my house.  when I tried to charge it I found the battery was bad.  When I charged it the charger jumped from 9Vto over 12V quickly, and then when I removed the charger the battery voltage dropped down below 9V.  

I put a new battery in the car.  The engine cranks faster, and for the first revolution of the engine it sounds like it will fire but after that, nothing.  I pulled all the plugs and there was weak spark to all of them.  The plugs were old, so I replaced them all.  While I had the plugs out I had my son crank the engine so I could tell the crankshaft was turning and I had some compression.

So my current situation is, new battery, new plugs, crankshaft definitely turning, engine cranking at a "normal" speed, but no firing of any cylinder even with starter fluid.

The only thing left I can think of is a timing issue.  But I don't think there could be an issue on the timing chain side since last year the timing chain broke and I replaced both gears, the tensioner and the chain with new parts and there hasn't been any problem since.  The only work done in the last month prior to this was replacing the starter with a new  unit.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting/repair are welcome.  Thanks for reading this far!

Bob

2 Answers
11,075

ytlas answered 10 years ago

Check coil http://www.ehow.com/how_7959727_test-12-volt-ignition-coils.html

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rhn0327 answered 10 years ago

I neglected to mention that I tested the secondary side of the coils. Book says they should be between 5K and 10K and they were both around 5.5K. I couldn't check the primary side because I didn't have a small enough socket with me to remove them. I read somewhere that the bolts are 9/32" so I am bringing my small 1/4" set with me so I can check the primary side of the coils.

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