Help! Car won't start.

mussing · 26-04-2009, 12:40 PM

Alrighty so I decided not to wait any longer and bought an alternator, which I installed with the help of my dad over the last couple of days. Got it in there and running, everything seemed great, battery was charging again, but then last night the car wouldn't start.

Installing the alternator required removing the fuel filter (which I replaced) and charcoal canister, but these were easy to put back in properly. It doesn't look as though they're the cause of the problem, because after installing the alternator I ran the car for about fifteen minutes and it worked fine.

While the alternator was out we degreased the whole engine bay and hosed it off. I was thinking that possibly some water got in the distributor, but I would've thought that that would've stopped it from running the first time, right?

After running the car yesterday afternoon I also secured the rear speakers properly. Before they were just held on by one screw 'cos the holes didn't line up, so I drilled a couple of holes in the brackets and screwed them in. Could I have knocked something out of place in the boot, like a plug to the fuel pump or something similar?

The engine rotates but does not start, it's definitely not the battery being too flat. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

26-04-2009, 12:40 PM	#1
mussing Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Sydney Car: 1990 323 Astina BG SP Posts: 1,071 View Photos By: mussing	Help! Car won't start. Alrighty so I decided not to wait any longer and bought an alternator, which I installed with the help of my dad over the last couple of days. Got it in there and running, everything seemed great, battery was charging again, but then last night the car wouldn't start. Installing the alternator required removing the fuel filter (which I replaced) and charcoal canister, but these were easy to put back in properly. It doesn't look as though they're the cause of the problem, because after installing the alternator I ran the car for about fifteen minutes and it worked fine. While the alternator was out we degreased the whole engine bay and hosed it off. I was thinking that possibly some water got in the distributor, but I would've thought that that would've stopped it from running the first time, right? After running the car yesterday afternoon I also secured the rear speakers properly. Before they were just held on by one screw 'cos the holes didn't line up, so I drilled a couple of holes in the brackets and screwed them in. Could I have knocked something out of place in the boot, like a plug to the fuel pump or something similar? The engine rotates but does not start, it's definitely not the battery being too flat. Any help would be greatly appreciated.