My son's car is driving me nuts. It's a '98 Spyder. It would start, run 5 seconds, and then die. We thought it was the fuel filter, so we put a new one on... and now it won't start at all.

 

does it turn over?

 

Yes, it actually will start... then run 5 seconds... and then dies.

 

does it sound like its struggling when it is running. Could possibly be a bad leak somewhere. Does it start right up, or does it take a bit of cranking before it starts

 

Sorry about that last reply.

Actually, after we put the new fuel filter on now it won't do anything. It turns over, but won't start.

This all started after he tried drilling a hole to run some wires. The drill slipped and just barely rubbed a couple of wires. They checked the wiring harness and taped the wire, and checked all the fuses that they can find. (Both under the hood and inside.) It still did the same... would start, run 5 sec., and die. That was when they changed the fuel filter.

Now they're wondering if it could be an in-line fuse or relay.

If ANYONE would want to call and discuss this with my husband... and possibly help troubleshoot over the phone.... please email me and I'll give you his cell phone number. bricker1520 (at) sbcglobal.net Thanks!

 

In what area was he drilling at. I had a similar but not exactly the same problem with my car after about 30 min of driving and it at normal operating temperature it would shut off and when you would try to start. The car start but dies in a few seconds. Only when it allowed to cool off for an hour will it start back up and run for a while and repeat itself again. I reorganised my CAM sensor wiring and route it away from my egr area after some advice from a member on this forum/ and swap ecu. One of those fixed the problem since i did them both at the same time i wont say exactly. No harm in cleaning up wiring and double checking everything.