# 1994 Mercury Capri not starting

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/1994-mercury-capri-not-starting/53800>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** mercury, starting, capri\
**Created:** [August 19, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1994-mercury-capri-not-starting/53800 "2010-08-19T14:48:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bigaudiofanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bigaudiofanatic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bigaudiofanatic)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1994-mercury-capri-not-starting/53800/1 "2010-08-19T14:48:39Z")

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Hello, I have a 1994 Mercury capri that has been sitting for 5 years. After priming everything I started it. The car ran for 4 seconds smoothly than slowly just died.  
  
  
  
 So I changed  
  
  
  
 Spark plugs  
  
 Gas  
  
 Fuel filter  
  
 Battery  
  
  
  
  
  
 I checked  
  
  
  
 Distributor cap “Clean as a new one”  
  
 Air Filter  
  
 Throttle body  
  
  
  
  
  
 Here is a short video of it happening.  
  
 [![](http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr199/bigaudiofanatic/Project%20Car/th_MVI_0531.jpg)](http://s483.photobucket.com/albums/rr199/bigaudiofanatic/Project%20Car/?action=view&current=MVI_0531.mp4)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 I would love to have this running by the end of the day so any help would be great.

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**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1994-mercury-capri-not-starting/53800/2 "2010-08-19T15:20:00Z")

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“Sitting for 5 years.”

The gasoline in the tank probably turned to varnish long ago, and my guess is it has gummed up the entire fuel system.

You’re lucky it ran at all.

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**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1994-mercury-capri-not-starting/53800/3 "2010-08-19T15:32:00Z")

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Right. If you tried to start it with the old gas then you likely have a mess throughout.

If you have spark, try starting it with the throttle down a little just in case your IAC is stuck closed. If you have spark and nothing will get it running get a fuel pressure gauge on it and find out if you’re getting the right pressure at the rail (you can probably look up the specs via Autozone’s free online repair guides).

If you have good pressure at the rail, use a test light or your ear (clicking) to see if the injectors are firing. If they are then pull the rail and give the whole thing a good bath with some kind of cleaner - I’d probably drop it & the injectors in a tub of Seafoam or something to soak for a while and then blow it all out with some carb cleaner or something.

If you have no pressure at the rail then I’d probably start from the back forward. Does the pump run? Does fuel make it as far as the filter? Etc.

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**Author:** ![bigaudiofanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bigaudiofanatic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bigaudiofanatic)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1994-mercury-capri-not-starting/53800/4 "2010-08-19T16:00:49Z")

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I ran a pipe fro the exit of the fuel filter to a bucket it has plenty of pressure and plenty of flow. If I can grab it when it starts and put my foot down at the right time and keep it above 3k it will run after i let off it will die.