Moses9

I bought a 1998 glxi lancer as my first car, when I bought it the car would crank than start than shutoff, owner said it worked, he went on a 2 week holiday and it wouldn't stay on when he got back, he changed the battery and same issue, he thought It was a bad fuel pump and took $500 aud for it ,after I bought it the battery died and would crank on jumpstart but not start, new battery now it cranks around 4 times before stopping and starting to crank again. Fuel line is getting fuel and injectors are clicking consistently, checked fuses all good, tried to swap relays around but couldn't get them out, starting fluid makes no difference, new spark plugs and spark leads work, not the MAS, air filter and intake clear, has oil, coolant, I bought an ob2d scanner and it didn't work, said it had an issue communication with the cars computer. Known issues it has to much oil in it when I purchased, (only a couple centimeters over the dipstick line, oil in spark plug wells, fuel pump sounds bad, piston head are filthy black. Just trying to narrow the issue down, at the moment I'm thinking it's compression issue, timing issue, bad starter motor or a sensor issue, I'm not entirely sure though as it's my first car, if there's anything I should try help would be appreciated.

schuhie

Have you verified there is actually spark? Considering that it won't pop off on starting fluid, it sounds like its missing spark to me. Even on a motor with bad compression, it should give a little pop on starting fluid.
Timing is also something to take a look at but checking spark is easy.

Moses9

Compression fuel and air is good, tested and retested all yesterday. Engine gets spark but it's inconsistent. When spark plug leads and coils and connected the engine cranks than stops than cranks than stops, when they are disconnected it cranks perfectly. This makes me think it's a timing issue specifically it's sparking before piston reaches apex reversing the engines rotation and stopping the crank. I hope I'm wrong as I'm a beginner and timing belt on this model is a daunting task. Spark plug tester shows that it is sparking when cranking and then stops sparking when it stops cranking. I hope this makes sense, it sparks and cranks for 1 second than stops for 1 second and repeats

Moses9

FOund the issue, it is the left side wire that plugs into the coilhead and links upto the wiring loom harness thingy, it doesn't work I have no idea how to fix it. 2 sparkplugs don't work because of it. Cable seems intact and connector looks good to. Any help would be greatly appreciated

schuhie

Sounds like you'll have to replace or repair that part of the harness. I am not 100% sure what connector you are talking about but you can likely get a replacement online somewhere and crimp on a new one to fixed wires.