ok...so i posted a thread a few days ago about my 99 si not starting, i found out it was my distributor, or so i thought...so i bought a new distributor and cap and rotor, i put the thing on...and the car started...but only for a few sec...and it died, i tryed to start it again and nothing....any suggestions?

 

are you sure that the battery is fully charged? cause if it has been sitting for a while, and if your have been trying to start it alot and using juice from it, then it could be dead

 

If the car cranks over at a normal speed, the battery should be fine. Do you still not have spark? The problem could be a bad cam sensor or ICM. I'm pretty sure you will need advanced diagnostic tools (like a scope) to diagnose any furthur. Did the cap and rotor cost $500?

 

no, a distributor, cap, and rotor, and new plugs.....were like 425 and this is unrelated but a new lower control arm....was 80 bux....but it runs but it runs like **** when we pull spark plug one, (the one closest to the driver side) why the hell does this happen?

 

so i figured out what it was..........the friggen catalytic convertor....i took off the exhaust at the header and it started fine, and ran awesome, the dealer wanted 960 dollars (and thats not a typo) for a new cat for a 99 si!!! so i got a hi-flow cat for 100 bucks and it goes on tomorrow....but my friend put on of my struts on wrong, and i thought they were blown so i bought tokico blue's and those are going on tomorrow, so i have stock 99-00 si struts if anyone is interested......but isnt that a dumb reason not to start?

 

Did you try and look through the old catalytic converter? A lot of carbon build-up can choke it off preventing the car from running. Did you run any type of fuel system cleaner through the engine recently? Like some sort of carb/throttle body cleaner, seafoam etc straight into the intake manifold? I've heard it happening before where the engine carbon removed, ends up in the catalytic converter and it gets plugged off. Usually by the guy not holding the RPM up while running the cleaning solution through the vacume lines(best way to get it into the intakes).

juat a thought.

 

Even if your cat is completly clogged your engine will start but it won't run for too long. After a couple min the exhaust will back up and start going back into the cylinders, causing your car to die out.

 

im a mechanic are they factory or aftermarket, cuz i run into problems in the past with aftermarket 1's. if not make sure ur getting power to it and if not u might need to get a wire diagram and trace the wires till u find power and run new wires then test to see if it starts