Pontiac Repair: 2000 Pontiac Sunfire, fuel pressure regulator, crank sensor

Question
 My son's 2000 Sunfire stalled while city driving, and we couldnt get it started. Tested fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator and has good spark.  Also, had crank sensor replaced.  The only way to get anything kind of a start was to crank the engine, with the gas pedal to the floor-the engine would run, but very rough/sputtering.  Soon as removed foot from gas pedal, car would die.  Could this be a timing chain issue?

Answer
Hi Jack:

Does the engine have spark on all 4 cylinders? You could have an injector issue. If it's running very rough it could be due to one or more dead cylinders from eithere a spark issue or a fuel delivery issue. It could be a timing chain issue if it jumped a tooth or 2. was the engine noisey prior to this happening? ususally the chains are noisey on these before they eithere break or jump time. It doesn't just happen. you can check compression on all 4 cyliners they could be within 10% of each other from higest to lowest cylinder. good luck :)]