Hey guys, got a problem with my 08 Evo X MR not wanting to start up, hoping I can get some help before I decide to get it towed. It's at 79k miles, and it has a few small mods from a previous owner.

A couple days ago I tried to start it up, to only have the engine turn over but not "catch". All of the lights and electronics turned on, but I took the battery to Autozone anyway, and they said it was fine. Tried switching the fuel pump relay with a similar one to no change. After reading a suggestion online, I tried to start it with the gas pedal held down, which will get the engine going (for as long as I keep RPM's up, then it dies again) but it's very loud and I can tell that at least one of the cylinders isn't firing. Is it safe to say that it might be the spark plugs or coil packs, or at least a part of a bigger problem? The "service engine soon" light was alternating between coming on and going away for about a week beforehand, so I don't know if that was a warning sign, or something else completely unrelated.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Possibly pull the spark plugs and take a look at them... If they are fouled up, change them out and see if that eliminates your problem. I wouldnt try to run it too much more if you think one cylinder isnt firing. Save you from scaring up a clyinder and have to get it honed.

 

see if you can pull the "service engine soon" codes DTC. You took the battery out so you might have reset the ecu and the codes too. check for codes anyway.
check for fuel, spark and air supply. Then move on to mechanics. Im going to assume a stretched timing chain.

Let us know how it goes and post progress. videos are great btw.

 

Here's a pic of the spark plugs. Even with my little mechanical knowledge, I can tell they look kinda bad, but are they bad enough to be causing my problem? Though I have a feeling I'll get a new set anyway, I don't want to just start throwing parts at my car in hopes something will finally fix it.