Just tried to start my car after running it for a while, and now I have a situation where it cranks, but doesn't start. It almost fired up once, but now it just cranks and cranks and cranks.

I checked around the engine bay to see if anything became loose/disconnected and noticed that the sensor on the back of the head where the coolant block off plate is broke off in the connector. I don't believe that this is contributing to the no start situation however. Also, I checked the spark plugs and wires while poking around and noticed that the plugs weren't tightened down all the way, so I tightened them down.

I can smell fuel under the hood after trying to crank it a few times, so I don't believe that's the issue either. I checked the timing belt alignment and that was okay. This is somewhat perplexing to me as it was running fine before I shut it off, but now it won't even fire up.

My car is a stock '90. Thanks for any feedback.

 

Pull a spark plug from each coil and see if you are getting spark. Probably have a crap load of fuel in the cylinders now. Let it air our for a while while you are checking for spark.

 

Everything seems to be in working order now. Although something odd did happen while it was idling. The CEL turned off and the RPM dropped from the 750 idle speed to 500 RPM simultaneously. It stayed like that for a couple seconds before returning to the normal idle speed and the CEL being back on. Some more fun for later I suppose lol

 

That little coolant plug that is broken on the back of your head will prevent the car from starting, and it will make it idle like a sack of crap sometimes. That is the sensor that actually tells your ECU what temperature the car is. Replace is ASAP. You might find that it'll start fine, then you'll drive to the grocery store, buy some things, and then be cranking for 15 minutes before you get anything.

 

Thx for the heads up. I emailed somebody that has spare parts galore to see if he has any for sale

 

It's like a $10 part new...

 

I wasn't aware that it was that inexpensive new. From Mazda I'm assuming?

 

Should be able to get it from any parts supplier. Rockauto.com has like 8 of them listed. Just get the part number from there and take it in to an autoparts store.