When I put the car in the accessory position, I hear sound coming from the fuel pressure regulator as if fuel is flowing. But when I try to start the vehicle nothing happens. No crank and no change in the fuel pressure regulator sound.

The battery and plugs are good so I think it is something like the starter or ignition coil. I appreciate any help you can provide.

 

You can run a jumper wire from the battery to the starter selonoid and if the starter is good, it will kick on. If there is no crank at all, as in when you turn the key the dash lights come on, but nothing happens when you turn the key over, I would suspect starter or neutral position switch if it is an automatic.

 

the fuel pumps should NOT be running in Accessory.

they should run for about 1 second when you turn the key to run, then stop until the car cranks over.

if the car is not cranking at all, a common cause is the park/neutral safety switch buried under the shift lever. this has nothing to do with fuel or ignition.

 

The car is not cranking at all. Is there a way to bypass the neutral safety switch to rule out it as the culprit?

 

try starting with it in neutral instead of park (set the parking brake first). and try wiggling the shift lever around "N" while you hold the key in 'start'.

that said, the connector is, if I recall correctly, near the front left side of the ashtray/console, or its under the carpet just forward and left of the shifter bezel.

the wiring diagrams do not call out the connector, and its been too long since I've traced one to remember which one it was. park/neutral switch has a pink and blue-yellow wire, while the reverse light switch is yellow and black wires. to make life confusing the parking shift lock relay also uses pink and blue-yellow wires.

 

ah, different diagram says its a 2 pin connector, the side that goes to the starter has a pink and blue-yellow wire, the side that goes to the park/neutral switch in the shifter has a blue and blue-yellow wire. a manual transmission car has a jumper plug that loops the pink to blue yellow so the starter just works.

 

It is an automatic. Putting the car in neutral and wiggling the shifter did not work. I am going to try to run a jumper between the pink and blue-yellow to see if that works. If not, is there a good reference out there for what AnEskimo suggests regarding a jumper wire from the battery to the starter solenoid? I am not sure what part of the starter is the solenoid. Thanks again!

 

the solenoid is the bump on the side of the starter, ti should have two connections, a big honking stud that has the big fat cable from the battery and a medium fat cable to the alternator, and a small normal sized connector to a blue-yellow wire thats the starter control signal. you'd jump that blue-yellow wire to the battery + terminal to trigger the solenoid and run the starter.

 

Thanks for the help. I am heading over to the car this weekend (broke down over 100 miles from home) and will report back to the board.

 

I ran a jumper wire from the + side of the battery to the starter trigger and the car cranks, and cranks but will not catch. I checked the gas and the car has gas. All the spark plugs are connected but no luck. Any other help would be greatly appreciated.

 

BTW, there is gas to the rail as my red right eye can attest. Could it be the plus or ignition coil? Thanks again!

 

when you turn the ignition key to II (run) do all the dashboard warning lights come on?

can you read the OBD diagnostic codes on both diag jumper #2 and #6? if so this suggests the ECU and ICU are 'alive'. See Engine and OBD Diagnostic Codes, and perform 'DTM 1' in both jumper positions. ideally, you get codes 1-1-1 out of each.

 

all the lights do come on but i am not certain about the OBD codes. i do not have a tool for that.

 

no tool required. open plastic cover, plug the little jumper wire into position #2, turn ignition on, press button for 1-3 seconds, then release and wait for the codes to (slowly) blink out. push button again and repeat until the first code repeats. then key off, move jumper to #6, and do it all over again. (#2 is the ECU fuel injection computer, and #6 is the ICU ignition computer).

 

Thanks for your help. I did not get to look at the OBD codes because I was able to get the car started. Woo hoo! Below is a summary of what transpired in the event it will help others.

Even though I did not know it at first, I had two problems: 1) The neutral safety switch was bad, 2) The engine needed a tune-up.

To diagnose #1, I bypassed the NSS by running a jumper from the + battery post to the trigger connector of the starter (thanks AnEskimo and Pierce) and the car would turn over but not catch. So I ordered the switch and will install next weekend.

To diagnose #2, I checked to make sure fuel was in the car and was getting to the fuel rail by disconnecting the fuel line at the rail and having someone turn the the key to position 2. Gas started flowing. I also verified the battery was fully charged and strong enough to crank, and crank it did. Over and over and over without catching. To fix this, I replaced the plugs with the correct gap (the old ones were gapped way to large), I replaced the distributor cap and the distributor rotor. So basically I performed a tune-up and the car started (thanks again Pierce)!

 

I replaced the neutral safety switch yesterday and the cars starts, but only when in the ''Neutral" position. In "Park", no luck. Does it sound like I got a bad replacement part? Thanks!