My girlfriend owns a '97 Protege. She was driving on the highway and it overheated and died on her. After towing it to my house I started checking all the systems. I realized that she had run the car out of oil. Somewhere there had been a leak and the oil ran low, then the car overheated and died. Luckly the engine is not siezed. It cranks and turns over quite well, but will not fire up at all. I topped off the oil and I replaced all the spark plugs cause they looked like she fried them. I tested them and they are getting a good spark and it is at the proper time. It appears that it's getting fuel because, when I look down through the spark plug holes, the cylinders are wet and have some fuel in the bottoms. Also when I was testing the spark plugs, the one I had out shot a little fuel/air mixture out of the spark plug hole. I also tried taking off the air intake hose and shooting some carb cleaner into the intake manifold while cranking, with no results what so ever. I noticed a humming coming from the engine when the key is on. When I unplug the Fuel injector fuse the noise stops. I took two pictures of a coil/cylinoid thing (not really sure what it is), that seems to be eminating the noise or at least connected to what is. If you guys can help me out I would appreciate it. What is this thing that I drew the RED arrow to [first picture], and is it supposed to be humming when the key is on? When I unplug the connector attached to it [second picture] the noise stops. If anyone has any ideas as to what the problem likely is let me know. I'm not sure what to test now. We don't want to spend much money trying to fix it, as she is just wanting to get rid of it. I just want to get it running so that we may actually get a couple grand for it instead of $100.

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Get it to a trained mechanic, and not the dealer. I'm betting that the engine is toast though. Sorry.

 

If the head is warped or cracked, is that enough to make the car not run at all? Remember that the engine cranks and turns over great with no extrainious noise. Basically is sounds and acts like it should start up any second, it just doesn't. I beleive that the head gasket is blown. I was instructed to check the condition of the radiator fluid as a hint to that end. The car has been sitting for a while but I was not entirely prepared for what I found. The "fluid" has been changed to a light colored oily mud. If I spend the money to buy all the new gaskets needed, is it a good bet that the car will then run? Or is it possible that it is also warped or cracked and just replacing gaskets will not fix it? How do I know how bad it is? Will I have to replace the radiator or can I somehow flush the sludge out of it and return it to good working condition? Sorry for all the questions.

 

You definately have a blown headgasket if the water in the radiator is a muddy brown in color, kinda like chocolate milk. I bet that the head is warped too, at least plan on it being($$)...
- As far as the car not starting at all, a computer, or sensor may be telling the computer to dump fuel, remember you said you saw fuel in the bottom of the cylinders? OR....since it was run out of oil, the rings could be shot, and the engine can't get enough compression to ignite the fuel/air mixture.
- Let's get down to the dirty truth of the matter, and what I'm about to type is NOT to anger you, but possibly give you a different perspective. How mechanically adept are you? Do you feel confident replacing an engine? No matter how good you may be at spinning wrenches, yanking an engine in the driveway is a pain in the ***. Is the car ragged out in appearance? Or, has it been kept in good order? I wouldn't waste time trying to get a beater running, I'd just cut my losses and walk away. Are you willing to accept the added burden of trying to fix a car that's not yours??
- If I may offer a suggestion, buy a good engine from a wreck. It will certainly be faster to get the car running, you will not have to hassle with machine shops, and in the end, it might be cheaper! A good wrecking yard will start up an engine for you, and let you hear it.

 

The item you are asking about in the first pic is the idle speed control solenoid, and it is normal to make a humming sound.

I would also presume the engine is history, but before condeming it right away you need to do a compression test. This would answer a lot of questions easy about the condition of the engine. If compression is too low, all the fuel and spark in the world will not make it run.

 

Thanks for all the great advice guys. I can't beleive that I didn't think to do a compression test, I have a compression gauge and will test that tonight. Thanks for reminding me about that. I really don't want to replace a whole engine. I am not an experienced mechanic by any means, but I have always done most of the work on my own cars. I am pretty good with taking things apart and fixing them, always have been, it's a gift from childhood. With good directions I'm sure I could do anything. WANTING to do it is a whole nother story. The car is in pretty good condition considering its age, but I don't think we would be able to sell it for enough to recoup costs of any major work. So likely I am looking at a minimum of installing new cylinder rings, head gasket, and milling the head. Ballpark how much do you think that would be? I think we would actually make more money if I part the car out on eBay. I've done that a few times from wrecked motorcycles that I bought real cheap, and then made about 4K selling the parts on eBay. It's got nice aftermarket wheels and new tires. Anyway, I'll soon post the results of the compression test. All input is appreciated.

 

It would be very hard to speculate the cost of this project. Compression test results would really help. You might be looking at a cracked head or who knows what else. What I have done out in the past is purchase a used engine from a WRECKED car. The reason I say wrecked is you know why the car is there! I have purchased used engines for about $400 in my area and always had good luck. The engines in these cars are easy to replace, just time consuming.