Hello, My daughter recently bought a 2000 SL (about a week and a half ago) that would not start. The previous owner thought it was a bad starter. I had the starter tested and was told it was bad, replaced the starter but still won't start. I noticed a few other things.. bad spark plugs, clogged air filter, battery cable badly corroded and the battery was bad. Replaced all that, still won't start.I had my daughter try it and it does turn over, I pulled a plug and does smell like gas, connected one of the old plugs and tested and it does spark. decided to check the oil and it was extremely low, checked the dipstick and had NO oil on it. I've added probably 3 quarts and is now half way through the full area. still will not fire. looking for any suggestions.

 

Sounds like this car was severely neglected, then parked.

Was the previous owner a family friend or part of the family?

1) the car holds 4.0 [EDIT: Quarts] of oil. 4-3.5 =0.5 You cannot properly lubricate the engine on 0.5 quart of oil. If it has been run in this condition, it's reasonably certain that excessive wear or damage has occurred to moving parts due to the lack of lubrication.

2) Bad plugs, air filter, battery, corroded batt terminals indicate how much maintenance was done to this vehicle: probably an oil change now and then; otherwise NONE.

Either that or the car is such an oil burner now due to accumulated internal damage that the previous owner was constantly feeding it oil.
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I'm sure the fuel filter was never changed either.

Ask the previous owner for service/maintenance records. They may not be provided but will tell you the story of the car if they are provided.
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My suspicion is that the previous owner drove it until the OIL light came on -- which means you are so low on oil that if you continue driving, the trip may be your last, and damage is already occurring.

That being said:

• Do you have stock NGK plugs in there? 0.040"
• Do you have spark at each plug?
• Are the plugs connected in the correct firing order?
• When you turn the key from a cold start, do you hear the fuel pump priming the system for 2 sec, then shutting off?

I also highly suggest

• getting the OBDII codes read -- report here as Pxxxx
• doing a compression test and fuel pressure test. Both tools should be available through the free loan a tool program at autozone or similar.
• ensure good cond. of battery cables--replace ones that are acid damaged or uncleanable. Lift hot and ground at battery, then remove neg terminal ground at body and clean up the area to ensure a solid ground.
• The above is all free. There are other things to look at, but let's do the free stuff first.....

Miles? A/T M/T?

 

Probably an understatement.. lol.

Not from Family or Friend just a random person.
It's a M/T and I believe is around 182k miles.

I do hear the fuel pump engage but can't say for sure how long or if it shuts off or not...

not NGK plugs but they are gapped at .040, not sure about spark at each or firing order so I'll check that as well as the other free stuff you mentioned.

 

Derf has a typo in the oil comments. He meant 4 QUARTS of oil, I hope, not 4 gallons.

 

Thanks Rube. Indeed 4 gallons would be a "few" too many gallons, not to mention quarts, for the Satty.

 

I assumed quarts. gallons seemed like a lot. the guy she bought it from does not have any maintenance records (probably cause there was no maintenance) but I did find out the heater has not been working for a while..

 

heater core may be plugged with deposits from 182K and 15 yrs of the same coolant mix. Or could be thermostat issue.

I went to ask you about temp gauge behavior but forgot it doesn't run.

Don't know how important an issue this is to you (possible freezing leading to cracked block) since I can't tell where you live.

PLEASE make your signature.

 

Have you tried a shot of starting fluid just to see if the engine will fire off? I'd do that. If it runs for a couple of seconds, then you know you've got to work on the fuel delivery system. The 1.9 is a damned good engine and can take quite a bit of abuse. Remember you have to have 4 things to start it. Air, fuel, spark and compression. If you're missing any, it will never start.

 

That's what I figured about the heat issue Derf. thanks

Rube, This may be a dumb question but then I haven't used starting fluid since 1989.. how do you shoot the starting fluid in on fuel injected engines?

Obviously I'm no mechanic.. I know just enough to be somewhat dangerous.

 

Isn't t a throttle body fuel injected engine? Just remove the hose from your air breather box To the throttle body and put a 2 to 3 second burst of starter fluid into the throttle body. If you don't see that, just remove your air filter and shoot a 3 second squirt into the air intake hose.