Engine doesn't start

[BALIKBAYAN]

I was going for a drive with the car. It didn't start. I have notoced that it has been a bit slow in starting lately. I charged the Battery and I have tried to start it again without any success. I drove it Friday and it ran as usual pretty good. Yesterday when I  moveed the car from the driveway to the garage it did not run very well. It sounded like a tractor! Today it is totally dead.

I have checked the fuses, but they looks fine.

I meassured the compression with cold engine as it doesn't start . I did get very strange readings. 10,6 Bar, 5 Bar, 6 Bar and 10,9 Bar. I tested cyl 2 twice to be sure of that reading.

With those readings there could be some problems with the headgasket between cyl 2 & 3, but a head gasket wont get damaged when the car stands still overnight. I have not lost any coolant. The only thing I have noticed is that it has been a bit slow when starting, like when the Battery needs a recharge.

I suspect that it is a compression problem, but why happens it when the engine is stopped during the night?

[2009joe]

14 minutes ago, BALIKBAYAN said:

I was going for a drive with the car. It didn't start. I have notoced that it has been a bit slow in starting lately. I charged the battery and I have tried to start it again without any success. I drove it Friday and it ran as usual pretty good. Yesterday when I  moveed the car from the driveway to the garage it did not run very well. It sounded like a tractor! Today it is totally dead.

I have checked the fuses, but they looks fine.

I meassured the compression with cold engine as it doesn't start . I did get very strange readings. 10,6 Bar, 5 Bar, 6 Bar and 10,9 Bar. I tested cyl 2 twice to be sure of that reading.

With those readings there could be some problems with the headgasket between cyl 2 & 3, but a head gasket wont get damaged when the car stands still overnight. I have not lost any coolant. The only thing I have noticed is that it has been a bit slow when starting, like when the battery needs a recharge.

I suspect that it is a compression problem, but why happens it when the engine is stopped during the night?

by chance have you tried to start it with another car jump leads and would it start  putting it into second going pushing it down hill jump starting it bud

[Red_Corolla]

If it was running badly then perhaps that is when the fault developed, not while it was stood afterwards?

I would check the mechanical timing just in case the chain/belt jumped.

[BALIKBAYAN]

No, I have not tried to jumpstart it or to pushing it to start.

No, I have not checked the mechanical timing. As it is 1AZ-FSE engine I am not that fond of lifting the camshaft cover because you have to remove the high pressure fuel system and those gaskets are not reusable. I have done it a few years ago and it was pretty straight forward to do, but the only place I could get the gaskets from was MR T.

I guess I will wait to see if I get some more ideas what might be wrong with the engine.

[Red_Corolla]

1 hour ago, BALIKBAYAN said:

No, I have not tried to jumpstart it or to pushing it to start.

No, I have not checked the mechanical timing. As it is 1AZ-FSE engine I am not that fond of lifting the camshaft cover because you have to remove the high pressure fuel system and those gaskets are not reusable. I have done it a few years ago and it was pretty straight forward to do, but the only place I could get the gaskets from was MR T.

I guess I will wait to see if I get some more ideas what might be wrong with the engine.

Assuming, for now, that the timing is correct, the only way I know how to understand more about the loss of compression (without dismantling) is a leak-down test with compressed air.

[BALIKBAYAN]

Here is an update. I spent most of the evenings last week in the garage or at the computer studying the workshop manual. I checked all of the relays several times and most of the fuses. Then I was thinking of how the car behaved last summer when there was a problem with an o-ring in the high pressure pump. I opened up the pressure regulator and the o-ring was in a bad shape. I changed it and put everything back in the car.

I tried to start it Saturday noon. It was not that keen on starting, but suddenly there was a small attempt for an ignition. I tried a few more times and then it started  with lot of exhaust. I thought the smoke detector would start in the garage. I let the engine to be warm and then I checked the compression. It was more than fine in all of the cylinders. I took it for a drive and it felt very nice. I have used the car every day since last weekend and it works just fine.

I am not sure if it was the o-ring that caused the problem, but I believe it was . Last summer and early autumn I did get fault codes when the o-ring needed to get changed. This time I did not get any fault codes.

Thanx to everybody who tried to help me with some suggestions to help me find the problem.