1999 Chevy Cavalier Won't Start

Please do a search for "Chevy Cavalier" on this forum,

CR4 has discussed just about every topic related to Chevy Cavaliers so there's plenty of material to choose from

Mods please please please make a subcategory for Chevy Cavaliers in the Automotive forum with all those previous threads attached to it so that these people can find this stuff easily.

Most probably your problem is the immobiliser, there are about 50 threads on that subject.

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The problem is that tank of spare gas you added. Old gas is a very common problem. There is probably a trap to catch water....most cars have one. I would bet that trap is full.

And your fuel filter is clogged.

Clean and flush out your fuel system. You may have added a half gallon of water when you drained that gas can! Though it is more likely that you have "bad gas".

There is a long history of Cavalier failures here. BUT, each is unique. The immobilizer does not seem to match your symptoms. As does the bad ground wire from another thread. Lets look at your symptoms and go from there. What changed since the car ran normal. Gasoline. The in tank pump has a mesh filter around the pick up port. You can not clean it with out dropping the tank, so lets try other options. If there was any water added to your fuel tank, it will sink to the bottom of the tank, and be the first thing sucked up by the fuel pump. How to tell if this is your problem? remove the fuel line where it enters the fuel injector (if throttle body fuel injected) or the fuel rail (if multi port FI). attach a hose to that line, and allow the other end of the line to run into an empty gallon milk jug or similar jug. Turn the ignition key on, and then off a few times. Each time the key is in the run position, the pump should run for one second. That will allow some fuel to flow into the jug. Now let the jug sit for minute. Tilt it to allow you to see any water separation in the jug. If the jug does not have two separate fluids in it, the next thing to do is determine weather you have water, or gasoline in the jug. To do that, wet a cloth with water, and spread it out. drop a few drops of whatever is in the jug onto the wet cloth. If it beads up, it is gas. if it mixes and soaks in right away, it is water.

If the jug has two separate fluids, determine just how much water is in the jug. If the jug is mostly water, (lower fluid is the larger portion) think about continuing to pump into the jug until it is about 1/2 full. If the water continues in large amounts, contact Exxon in writing.

If the water is only small amounts treat your gas tank with 3X the normal treatment ratio of dry gas additive and retest. Don't forget to allow the contents of the fuel line to be purged into the now empty jug to determine the results. Good luck.

thank you for your post i will try these tests and let you know the results.car starts on either runs for a few seconds and quits but if i ad gas from car to throttle body it does not it just spits back in throttle body but does not run at all.

Pump some of the contents into the milk jug, and look for fuel-water contamination.

Lots of Cavalier issues.. you have fuel you say now do you have spark? If you have spark and a good blue one then if yours is like the one I had the ECU is kaput. I always suggest a proper diagnosis even if it costs a few big bucks it will save you in the long run..

yes car has spark it will start on either;everything seems to be functioning properly injectors are firing,plenty of gas to fuel rail (or whatever is in the tank)i have put a half of a can of seafoam a bottle of heet and a bottle of octane boost in tank.i took some of liquid and put in a bottle cap and lit with lighter and it burns but if i put in throttle body it does not start,not sure how accurate my test is on the gas will try other tests someone posted to see results car fires right up on either and runs a few seconds till it's gone i have always been a fair auto mechanic but not so much on these computer jobs but i know that with gas and spark and ect timing car should at least try to start thank you so much for your post.