Engine turning over but not starting

check_six

I have a car that hasn't been driven in 3 months. There's fuel in the tank. A brand new battery has been installed, but the car won't start. The engine sounds like it's turning over when I turn the key, but the engine doesn't fire up. What should I do? Do I need fresh fuel? Do I need to remove the 'bad' fuel in the tank?

All help appreciated!

bman1

check_six wrote: »

I have a car that hasn't been driven in 3 months. There's fuel in the tank. A brand new battery has been installed, but the car won't start. The engine sounds like it's turning over when I turn the key, but the engine doesn't fire up. What should I do? Do I need fresh fuel? Do I need to remove the 'bad' fuel in the tank?

All help appreciated!

What kinda car is it? Petrol or diesel?

Alanstrainor

Ah fuel doesn't go bad, not that quickly anyway. You say it sounds like it is turning over, it should be very obvious if it is.

Is it petrol or diesel? Do you hear the fuel pump prime when your turn the ignition to position 2?

check_six

It's a petrol car. First few times I tried to fire the car up it started to do the chugging noise I'd expect before bursting into life, but it didn't 'catch'.However, after a few goes it started just 'coughing' when I tried to start it.

Alanstrainor

check_six wrote: »

It's a petrol car. First few times I tried to fire the car up it started to do the chugging noise I'd expect before bursting into life, but it didn't 'catch'.However, after a few goes it started just 'coughing' when I tried to start it.

What car? Engine? Year?

Sounds like it's not fueling... check for the noise of the pump. Turn off everything in the car, fans, radio etc. Turn the ignition to position 2 and you should hear a noise from the back of the car. Only a couple of seconds worth, which is the fuel pump. No noise means the fuel pump isn't working. But as for why... it's hard to know. Check fuses and such as a start.

rizdub

Try jump starting the car .. it has always worked for me on five differen cars with new or old batteries...

check_six

It's a 02 Nissan Almera petrol 1.5l. I'll give your suggestions a go in the morning. Cheers.

Hitman3000

Spark plugs.

standardg60

You may just have flooded it..try starting with the accelerator fully depressed.

Bmw123d

Sounds to me like it needs a jump start first off to get it turning over fast enough. Then maybe address the issue of it not starting

newmember2

standardg60 wrote: »

You may just have flooded it..try starting with the accelerator fully depressed.

What's that gonna do...unflood it??

richardsheil

newmember? wrote: »

What's that gonna do...unflood it??

Yes, that is generally what happens. Foot to floor unfloods fuel injected engines in general.

Esel

Carburettor engines too...

Cee-Jay-Cee

Take the plugs out, clean them with a fine wire brush and make sure theyre dry and try again. The plugs may have been fouled when you tried to start it.

JohnBoy26

Alanstrainor wrote: »

What car? Engine? Year?

Sounds like it's not fueling... check for the noise of the pump. Turn off everything in the car, fans, radio etc. Turn the ignition to position 2 and you should hear a noise from the back of the car. Only a couple of seconds worth, which is the fuel pump. No noise means the fuel pump isn't working. But as for why... it's hard to know. Check fuses and such as a start.

Fuel pumps were a common failure on older nissans ,usually after 100k + miles. I haven't seen one go on an almera but it could be.