Crazy thing happened, now car won't start

essial · 03-06-2012, 01:47 AM

OK I'm obviously new to this whole thing, and I guess I'm just dumb, but I've spent an hour looking on the internet, in the repair manuals, as well a repair manual I own, and I can't for the life of me find the CPS sensor on my 7MGE engine. Where I would expect it to be I see the alternator, on the other side I see nothing obvious. There IS a sensor looking thing towards the bottom of the engine in the back on the passenger side, but I'm pretty sure that's the O2 sensor. The thing on the front at the top is the TPS sensor, which is new and I've adjusted several times already. Until I get paid on friday I really can't do much anyway -- and if it IS the CPS sensor, the cheapest I've found is $375, the second cheapest is $550. At that point I might as well go ahead and replace the entire ignition system as the other parts are pennies compared to that. Really sucks too, I was about ready to start work on restoring the inside of the car as it was running so well...

Anyway, if you could give me some sort of clue as to where the CPS sensor is, I'll check it with a voltmeter tomorrow. Thanks again for your help and guidance!

I will say considering I've had to replace half the stuff in the engine bay already (just dumped about $700 replacing the entire cooling system as just about every component was leaking, including radiator and water pump), I am really starting to learn how this thing ticks (or doesn't tick

).

Update:
OK, I took apart the distributor cap (I also noticed the 'vent' hole still had a cap on it.. isn't it supposed to be open?! and looked inside. Didn't see anything obviously bad, but at least I see the pickup coils referenced by the ECU. I think I'm just going to wait until this weekend and pick up a feeler gauge so I can do all the tests. I'm thinking it's either the distributor cap, or the wiring. A continuity test should be able to let me know which.

Oh and last thing I haven't mentioned, ever since I got it it has had this weird thing about starting where it would simply do nothing when I turned the key sometimes. It may be 5 seconds, 30 seconds, or more of holding the key down before it suddenly turns over and cranks up (before this issue obviously). Lots of times it just cranked up fine.. Would this be related or another problem altogether?

03-06-2012, 01:47 AM	#6
essial Stock Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Hephzibah, GA Posts: 15	OK I'm obviously new to this whole thing, and I guess I'm just dumb, but I've spent an hour looking on the internet, in the repair manuals, as well a repair manual I own, and I can't for the life of me find the CPS sensor on my 7MGE engine. Where I would expect it to be I see the alternator, on the other side I see nothing obvious. There IS a sensor looking thing towards the bottom of the engine in the back on the passenger side, but I'm pretty sure that's the O2 sensor. The thing on the front at the top is the TPS sensor, which is new and I've adjusted several times already. Until I get paid on friday I really can't do much anyway -- and if it IS the CPS sensor, the cheapest I've found is $375, the second cheapest is $550. At that point I might as well go ahead and replace the entire ignition system as the other parts are pennies compared to that. Really sucks too, I was about ready to start work on restoring the inside of the car as it was running so well... Anyway, if you could give me some sort of clue as to where the CPS sensor is, I'll check it with a voltmeter tomorrow. Thanks again for your help and guidance! I will say considering I've had to replace half the stuff in the engine bay already (just dumped about $700 replacing the entire cooling system as just about every component was leaking, including radiator and water pump), I am really starting to learn how this thing ticks (or doesn't tick ). Update: OK, I took apart the distributor cap (I also noticed the 'vent' hole still had a cap on it.. isn't it supposed to be open?! and looked inside. Didn't see anything obviously bad, but at least I see the pickup coils referenced by the ECU. I think I'm just going to wait until this weekend and pick up a feeler gauge so I can do all the tests. I'm thinking it's either the distributor cap, or the wiring. A continuity test should be able to let me know which. Oh and last thing I haven't mentioned, ever since I got it it has had this weird thing about starting where it would simply do nothing when I turned the key sometimes. It may be 5 seconds, 30 seconds, or more of holding the key down before it suddenly turns over and cranks up (before this issue obviously). Lots of times it just cranked up fine.. Would this be related or another problem altogether? Last edited by essial; 03-06-2012 at 03:45 AM.