1996 Chevy Corsica I got suckered.

AMELIAANNNE

MEMBER
1996 CHEVROLET CORSICA

Electrical problem
1996 Chevy Corsica 4 cyl Automatic 88,000 miles

So, my first car, a 1996 Chevy Corsica. Found it on craigslist for $900. A family friend is a mechanic, so I asked him to go with me and give it a look over. We talked with the woman, and she said it was fine. We didn't get to go the first day we had planned because I got out late from work, the second day we planned we didn't get to go because he got out late from work. So, I checked again online because she said as long as the ad was there, she still had the car. But, the car wasn't there. Worried that she had already sold it, I called her back and asked if it was still alright if we came to look at it and asked her why she had taken the ad down if no one had bought it and she told me that it stopped running so she took the ad down and told me that she was just going to sell it as is for $700. Anyway, we went to go look at the car that wouldn't start (I KNOW, I KNOW, NEVER BUY A CAR THAT DOESN'T START. LEARNED IT THE HARD WAY) because I figured if Steve, the mechanic that came with me, could figure out what was wrong with it, and he thought the car was worth it, we'd tow it home and fix it up. He said it was the fuel pump and told me to offer her $600, so I did. Replaced the fuel pump, still my car wouldn't start. Then the coil pack, and still my car wouldn't start. After the coil pack, the Ignition control module, after the ICM, the crank shaft sensor, after the crank shaft sensor, the cam shaft sensor and still the car wouldn't start and there was no spark. The engine turns over, looks like it wants to start, but doesn't. Anyway, we figured if there was no spark and we replaced everything. It could be the computer, so we replaced the computer and still wont start! So yeah, I defiantly got screwed but I knew it wasn't running and I still bought it so I can't really blame anyone but myself. But, damn! What else could it be? I'm not sure what else to do with it and I've put a lot of time and money into the car so I don't want to give up on it yet. Any ideas?

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hi there,

Thank you for the donation.

You will have to go back to basics and check the lot, never presume that something is ok just because it worked yesterday or its new, so with that in mind start with a scan, you wont always get a fault light up on the dash with all set fault codes, do a comp test, check for a god spark, check fuel pressure and flow, check injector pulse, also be mindful that if the injectors are working every time you try and crank it, it will be spraying fuel into the manifold, so your plugs will become fuel fouled and this will also be a cause of a no start, check for contaminates in the fuel, and check all vacuum hoses, start here.

Mark (mhpautos)