NB Miata Help Needed

[zachcrosen]

I am having problems with Kanina's '99 Miata. I replaced the valve cover gasket on it a week and a half ago and test drove it to make sure I didnt have any leaks, etc and the car drove normal. I parked it in teh garage and let it sit for around 2 hours and when we got in it to go for a drive, it would only turn over. It would not start. So, I disconnected the negative terminal on the battery to see if a reset would remedy the situation. It did and the car started right up.

So, we left the house and drove about 30 miles away and as we started to go up a hill, the car started sputtering and stalled out. It would not start again. I had a friend come tow it to a local shop that does work on my cars when I can't do it. Several ppl on miata.net said it could be a crank sensor so the mechanic replaced that. So far, he has replaced a crank and cam sensors and the car still will not start. He is going to leave these sensors in until he finds out the problem and then he will remove them and not charge me for them.

He said he found a loose ground on the intake manifold and said that may have arc'd and shorted out the computer but he isn't sure yet. If its the computer, I will buy a used one from the parts group. Any of you Miata gurus here ever experience this problem?

Car has about 120k miles on it.

Thanks,
zach

[JohnW8]

Do you have fuel, fuel pressure?
Fuel pump making noise when you first turn the key? (Open gas cap and have someone turn the key to on, not start you should be able to hear the pump)

Do you have Spark? Put a timing light on #1 wire turn the key and see if you get a flash on the timing light. If no spark is the coil pack working? They are known weak links on the 99's. Maybe something got bumped/not hooked back up solid when you had the cam cover off
The ECU controls the spark I think.

Main relay?

Clean contacts on the ignition switch?

[zachcrosen]

We have fuel.

When I removed the valve cover, I didn't do anything with the coil pack except remove the 2 screws holding it to the cover. The car was driving fine immediately after swapping out the gasket and then again after I reset the ECU. Unfortunately, the car is not at my house so I can't check the fuel pressure or the coil pack.

When I turn the ignition switch, the engine will turn over, it just wont start.

[Cholewa]

Did you reconnect everything? I know it sounds stupid, but there have been times in everyone's car fixin careers where you left a rotor cap off or forgot to connect the ground strap or something.