[Velocity211]

So I just dropped $500 on towing my supra home. The car will crank and crank and crank but won't start. I tried popping the clutch to no avail. I've reset the ecu, gone back to my old tune on AEM, hoses and vac lines look good, sparkplugs are good. What's wrong?! Help please supra gurus!

 

[Spdwrx_buffa]

does it have gas in the tank. lol but in all seriousness is it getting gas? and does it have spark? if you have both you have a running motor, and if not, well its not gonna run.

 

[Velocity211]

Yep plenty of gas. I Actually flooded the car of the gas odor since I have no charcoal canister. And I just replaced the spark plugs. Has a very strong spark.

 

[blackdude]

having the same problem on my auto sc so in for suggestions not trying to thread jack op

 

[Spdwrx_buffa]

is your timing correct? and idk possible tps failure?? this is puzzling.

 

[SUPRAtruc2JZGE]

IDK where you stand but I would chk alternator, starter or get it diagnostic to make sure what it is exactly the problem are.

 

[Beau]

Whatever this problem turns out to be, it may shed some light because there are too many failures like this.

 

[TNPerformance]

First off, it's not going to be the starter or alternator. Not a chance for either of those 2 if it cranks over and over and over.

My vote is the rotor button in the distributor is wore out. Very cheap fix too if it turns out to be the problem. Even if it isn't, it's a cheap part and needs to be changed out every now and then anyways. If you have tried to crank the car enough after changing the spark plugs again, they may be fouled out.

On my roommates honda, his rotor button was wore out and we replaced it, but it seemingly didn't fix the problem. However, he had flooded the car out attempting to crank it so many times, so we replaced the spark plugs and she fired right up.

Pull a spark plug wire and stick a spark plug in it. Turn the motor over and get somebody to see if the spark plug is sparking. If not, then it's definitely a spark issue (obviously). Try changing the rotor button, and re-do the test. If it's sparking, then that fixed the problem. If it still doesn't crank, change the plugs again.

 

[Velocity211]

I'm pretty sure my timing is correct. It was running fine a couple hours ago and I didn't touch anything. Tps seems fine according to aempro. Alternator was just working fine as well. Well if the starter was dead, wouldn't popping the clutch start the car?

Edit: I'll take a pic of my distributor and cap tomorrow morning. Hopefully it's something as simple as that that's causing the problem

 

[TNPerformance]

Yeah, do that. Usually the button is what wears out, but it could be the points on the distributor cap as well. Both are cheap parts though. (compared to a coil, fuel pump, and other parts)

 

[SUPRAtruc2JZGE]

That why I said I dont know where you stand, it could be click click or crank crank or whatever sound it may be. GL

 

[Beau]

Cap button? Explain this cap button, usually you just replace this distributor cap/rotor eh? Never heard of a button.

 

[twinturbosupra94]

Cap button? Explain this cap button, usually you just replace this distributor cap/rotor eh? Never heard of a button.

+1

I replaced the rotor and the cap. What is this button you speak of?

 

[Velocity211]

The button in the middle of the distributor seems fine, not sure though cause I don't know how a brand new one is. Rotor seems a bit rusty, is this normal?

Sorry, only got iPhone pics for now.

 

[OTSIЯA]

when this happened to me it was my disributor, well... the chip.

 

[Velocity211]

Well I just checked the spark plug, no spark when cranking the car. I tried using the 4Runner dizzy cap I had laying around and no spark either. Could it be the rotor? Any way to check if my ignitor is busted?

 

[TNPerformance]

Button, rotor, same thing. It's actually called the "rotor button". At least that's what I have always called them anyways.

Its hard to tell just by looking at the end of the rotor button if it is wore out or not. I would just buy a new one. It's less than $10 new at advance autoparts. Probly closer to $7 or $8. Then clean off the points inside the distributor cap real good. Don't sand them down or anything cause you don't need to take any material off of them or they won't make contact like they should. They actually look pretty clean so I would just wipe them off. As long as there isn't any corrosion build up. Or even a new cap is only like $12. So you could have a new cap and button for $20.

Anyways, after you replace either, or both, of those then re-do the spark test. (take spark plug wire off spark plug, place spark plug in the end of the wire and lay on the valvecover, crank car over and have someone watch for spark). And hopefully that will fix it. If not, then you are only out $20, you have done half a tune up, and we have eliminated 2 possibilities!

 

[Velocity211]

Just ordered a new rotor from toyota, will be picking up tomorrow.

I cleaned scraped off the rust from the rotor but still doesn't start. I played around with the rotor when I took it off on the distributor and it seems the gap of the points on the cap and the metal on the rotor seems very large. Does it look worn?

 

[TNPerformance]

Looks worn to me. You will notice when the new one comes in that the ridges on the end of it are much more prominent.

Another question. Did you notice it was harder to start or it took longer to crank the times prior to it not cranking at all?

 

[Velocity211]

Yeah, sometimes it wouldn't start at all so I'd have to crank it for a while until it started but now it doesn't start at all.