i got this car from my dad about a year ago, he was the original owner. he has taken extremely good care of it, but it had high miles so he gave it to me. when i first got it it had a miss, turns out one of the spark plug wire connectors on one of the coils was corroded.. i used a wire brush to scrape off the corrosion and put new plugs and wires in, and it ran good as new.

now i havent had any problems since, until last weekend. i was driving through the mall parking lot and my friend was being a jerk to me so i got mad.. i accelerated really hard and then when i let off the gas it started to have the same "missing" problem as it had when i originally got the car from my dad a year ago.

i parked the car, went to the mall for a few hours, and came back tried to start it but i just heard a click from the starter and nothing else. just one click. i tried jump starting to no avail. i sat there and played with the keys trying to start it, tapped on the starter, and eventually got the starter to work. so now i am stuck with this car sitting in the mall parking lot, and cant get the damn thing to start. i pulled one of the plugs out and they were wet with gas, i plugged the spark plug into the wire and rested it on the radiator to check for spark.. tried to start the car and saw spark going from the plug to the body of the car.

so i am getting spark, and there is fuel in the cylinder, but the damn thing wont start. i thought maybe it was the resistor in the key that went bad, but im pretty sure thats fine, as the security light does not come on when i try to start the car. i checked the fuses under the drivers side, but are there any other fuses that i might need to check? the car was running perfectly fine just hours before i tried to start it, so i didnt think all the spark plugs or the fuel pump would just fail like that without notice. a very strange thing i noticed today when trying to start the car was that when i was cranking the engine over with the spark plug removed, i noticed that along with the fuel coming out of the spark plug hole was a bit of carbon and some greenish liquid (coolant). do the symptoms i am experiencing describe the dreaded upper intake problem? as i said before, this just happened all of a sudden.

i would think the car should start if there is spark and fuel, and even if there is a bit of water in it. maybe i flooded the engine by sitting there trying over and over to crank the engine before i got the starter to actually work and not just click once? is it even possible to flood the engine? i did notice some coolant around the upper plastic intake, what can i do to get the damn thing started?? please help me guys.

You quite probably did flood the engine and there are two ways to get it started (assuming that the cylinders are not wet with coolant). 1 - Wait for a few hours to let the engine dry out and then start. 2 - By putting the gas pedal to the floor and holding it there while turning it over signals the PCM that the engine is flooded and it will not fire the injectors to allow the engine to dry and start.
If the engine wasn't turning over when the starter wasn't working - no fuel was going into the engine because the fuel is timed off of the crank sensor.
If there is coolant in the cylinder you may not be able to start the car until that is fixed (obviously).

i tried putting the pedal to the floor tonight and starting it. it has been sitting in the parking lot since sunday, and when i pulled the plugs earlier today they were wet with coolant and gas. how do you suggest i dry out the cylinder, should i leave it overnight with all the plugs removed? should i just drain the coolant out? whats the best way to get it up and running again? thanks

Pull all the plugs, then crank it over a few times. That should flush some coolant out, possibly enough to start it (after you put the plugs back in).

I think you have a blown head gasket, or the ever common corroded upper intake manifold.

You may want to pull your intake and confirm that coolant leak?
Even if you do dry it out and getting running.

i took all the plugs out and held the starter down for about 10 seconds. i saw a few drips of coolant but nothing really substantial.

the thing i dont understand is, the car had been running fine with no problems at all before this happened. i remember, after parking the car, i turned it on again to see if it would idle smooth again. but it still had a "miss". maybe i had just blown through the upper intake and the coolant was leaking into the engine while i was shopping?

i will get the car towed home and pull the intake tomorrow. what exactly am i looking for? do the intakes just get holes in them over time or what?