Another good news/bad news thing...

[johnpalmer]

This isn't "the good news is X, the bad news is Y"... this is "the good and bad news is..." and that is that, when I went to pick up my car, it wouldn't start. Cranked nice and strong, but wouldn't start. So, they're looking into it again.

At least I can hope they find something fixable.

Comments

[droops.livejournal.com]

That's REAALY weird. I do hope that they can find the problem. 'Frustrating' is probably too mild a word to describe how you feel about it.

[brooksmoses]

Yeah, fundamentally that's good news, really. Given that it's likely not going to start at some point in the future, and that it hadn't had that happen when they first tried, that's about the optimum time for it to happen. :)

[merlin-t-wizard.livejournal.com]

John, sometimes you get into some of the most interesting situations.
There were several good suggestions in the responses to the other post. I'll add my $.02. One additional option to a remanufactured engine is a used one. Not as expensive, not as reliable. I don't know these days what a used engine costs, I'm just throwing it out as an alternative.
In general terms, an engine needs 3 things: air, fuel, and a spark at the right time. Air is probably a given. To test fuel it depends on the engine design. I'm assuming that it's a fuel injected engine, as carburetor mixing is not easy to find anymore. I guess to test to see if you aren't getting fuel you can spray about a 1 sec spray of starting fluid into the air intake, then crank the engine. If it cranks, starts to run, then drops back to just cranking, then you don't have any fuel being delivered to the engine (out of fuel, bad fuel pump, bad injectors, bad computer, etc). For the spark, it depends a bit on the exact engine design. I don't know much about that exact model but in general there's two kinds of spark distribution systems. One: you'll have one ignition coil (the thing that generates the spark), a distributor (usually round with wires sticking out of it), and wires from the distributor to the spark plugs. You may also have a wire from the ignition coil to the distributor (or the ignition coil may be built into the top of the distributor). The other system has multiple ignition coils and no distributor.
If you have a system with a distributor, the black (usually) plastic cap that you see is subject to getting a crack in it that you can't see, but will short out the high voltage spark especially when it's damp. Also, there's a rotating piece inside the cap that's called a rotor (because it rotates to direct the spark to the correct spark plug at the correct time) that can get old also. If this car has quite a few miles on it, and is difficult to start in wet weather but OK in dry, then that's where I'd start. The cap and rotor kit are cheap, and well worth the effort.
I'll let this soak in for now, and if you want more info, let me know. BTW No, I'm not a mechanic, but I've worked on quite a few cars both of my own, and for friends, just so you know.