The engine needs 3 things to run - fuel, spark, and compression. We already know that when it is running - the engine is fine. That takes care of the compression issue. The next thing to check is the spark - because its a little simpler to check then is the fuel (spark also implies timing). I'm going to rule out the timing belt for now because we know the engine runs most of the time ie: we have compression. If the belt jumped we would have a completely different issue.
My guess is that the ignition module is starting to go out. In which case you would not be getting spark when the engine is turning.
You must check for spark when the engine is acting up on you and NOT starting.
If you have spark, and the engine is still not starting, then you need to move on and check for fuel.
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Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 AT 4:33 PM