Cadillac Repair: wont start!, cadillac fleetwood brougham, fuel pressure gauge

Question
I have a 94 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham with 5.7L engine and it wont start. it starts to turn over but don't start, everything good on it. The battery has more then enough power to start the engine, just scarred to keep trying to start it would burn up the starter. So if any ideas let me know please.

Answer
Hi Josh,

     I don't blame you for not wanting to continue to crank on the engine. What is safe to do is to crank for 10-15 seconds and then give the starter that same amount of time for a rest and then crank again for 10-15 seconds. After 2 minuits of this you should let the starter cool down for 10 minuits and then resume.

     In order for the engine to work it needs to have compression, spark and fuel. Usually on those engines the timing chain doesn't break so compression should be good. What can happen is that if enough gas gets into the cylinders it washes the oil off the cylinder walls and then the rings can't seal properly and the engine won't start. You would need to get a fuel pressure gauge that screws onto the fuel rail and check for pressure. I would expect to see at least 40psi. If not then you will need to diagnos the fuel pump circuit.

     Then check for spark. This is where I believe your problem might be. The distributor caps are known for developing arcing inside and it can cause missfires. If this happens long enough the coil will go bad. So check for spark at the spark plug and coil useing a special spark checking tool. Try several wires.

     If the check engine light has been turning on while cranking the engine check for codes useing a scan tool. It wouldn't hurt to check for codes anyway because there could be one stored that might lead to the fix.

     If unsure of the testing procedures or  availability of the tools then have it towed to your mechanic because it will probably be cheaper that you just buying parts to try. And once bought you can't return them most times.

     Let me know what happens if you need anymore help. Bill