No fuel, no spark, I'm stumped

btah

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Hello.

I was wondering if someone might be able to help with an issue with my 2004 sunfire. The car was turned off to get gas, gas was added, went to start and it is just turning over. I had it towed back to the house. Here is what I am finding:

No spark. I first tried starting it by spraying some starting fluid in the throttle body, no start. I then took off the piece (don't know the name) that has the coil pack on the top of the motor. I tried the screwdriver method holding it close to the metal piece coming out of the other piece I don't know the name of and grounding the screwdriver to the top of the motor. No spark. I then tried hooking up an old plug wire to the piece I don't know the name of and laying the spark plug on the top of the motor, no spark. I then took the wiring harness off the coil pack. There are 5 connectors on the wiring harness. I though (and maybe incorrectly so) that 4 of the connectors should light up as I crank the motor. I checked all of them with a test light (with the other end clipped to the battery ground) and only one would light up.

No fuel. While cranking I opened up the shrader (shroeder, sp?) valve. No fuel came out. I don't hear the fuel pump run at all when I first turn the key on. I then went to the fuse box in the engine compartment. I checked the fuel pump relay sockets and found the following.
pin 87 is always hot as I expected because the internet never lies...
ping 86 is ground as expected.
ping 85 is suppose to light up for a few seconds when you first turn the key on, I get a short blink, like really just a blink.
I jumped pin 87 to pin 30 to try and get the fuel pump to run, nothing.

I unhooked the battery for about an hour because I read about a "relearn" process and since I am stumped, I tried it. I was surprise that when I hooked the battery back up, the car cranked over for about a second. After about 5 seconds, it cranked again for about a second, it did this one more time. The key was in my pocket... That did not help, same no-start issue.

theft system: I read a lot about the theft system. I never knew it had one and I am sure I don't understand how it is supposed to work. However, I read about following a procedure where you crank for 2 seconds, let it sit until the theft light goes out, turn the key off, then do the same procedure two more times. I tried the procedure and after the first crank and letting the key stay on, the theft light never goes out. I let it sit for about 30 minutes and the theft system light is still on. I tried this a couple of different times and always the same results.

I checked all the fuses with a test light. All good EXCEPT in the fuse box in the engine compartment. In that fuse box there is a set of relays, a set of large fuses, and a set of small fuses. ALL of the small fuses do not show power. All of the large fuses do.

Also, the gas gauge does not work. I put in size gallons of gas and my son claims to have put in 10 bucks worth when the problem happened so I am guessing maybe close to a half tank total should be in there.

If you made it this far, thanks. I appreciate it.
 
correction, I put in five gallons of gas, not size gallons...
 
You may have a bad pump. Im not sure if it disables the ignition if there is no pump.
 
I'm wondering if you have a bad ignition switch, it would effect both spark and fuel.
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I have been wondering about both of those also. I have read a lot of posts about cars having spark but needing a fuel pump so a fuel pump is lower on my list of suspects right now.

I have also read a lot about theft control systems on these cars but I can't really figure out if there is one or not. The key doesn't have the chip in it like my 89 Camaro did (that feature also left me stranded at a gas station).

Any way to diagnose an ignition switch?

The issue of not having power to some of the fuses in the fuse box (one is a PCM fuse) in the engine compartment makes me think along the lines of ign. switch, PCM, ECM. Something that could hit everything at once. I also think a big clue is the gas gauge doesn't work also but I haven't found anything that talks about that. It just seems like an important detail to me.
 
Thanks. It sounds like it has passlock. The manual says the fuel will be cut off if the system is activated. It doesn't mention spark being shut down but I am not sure if they would mention that to begin with. The THEFT SYSTEM light initially goes off when I first turn the key on but them comes back on. Since the car won't start I am not sure it being on while the car is not started is normal or not.

Is this the same system they used to have when there was a little resistor built into the key?

I haven't turned up any way to get around the system for a test. Which makes sense since it is supposed to keep you from starting the car...
 
I just remembered I have a remote starter on the vehicle. It is aftermarket as far as I know (installed when I bought the car about a year ago). I never use it and only remembered about it when I went to try a different key. Same no start with the remote start system. I wonder if that eliminates the ignition cylinder, it seems to me that it would since the key doesn't have to be in with the remote starter.

I am going to try and pull it out of the vehicle to see if that helps.

Can anyone tell me if the passlock system cuts off BOTH spark and fuel? I can't seem to find that answer.
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I was working down that path. This guy says that it will not work for the sunfire or cavalier. Not sure how true that is or not.
 
Turns out I shot myself in the foot... Apparently when I was trying to find out what the heck was going on, I removed the engine compartment fuse for the PCM and didn't put it back... Not knowing this and thinking either the passlock or a computer problem, I had it towed to a shop. Turns out after they figured out the fuse was missing and replaced it, they quickly determined the fuel pump was shot. That few dollar fuse I forgot to put back in led me away from the fuel pump, which was my first guess when this all started, straight into a 600 repair bill. Expensive lesson.

Thanks for the replies that were posted.
 
Also, to bypass the passlock for a sunfire or cavalier, apparently there is a different procedure because of something called a "bulb test".

This is one of the links I was looking at in case anyone comes across this post and might have the passlock problem.
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?TID=10608
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Wow what a story, sorry about the pain in the wallet.
 
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