Quote Originally Posted by avguy View Post
First question - did you spray a small bit of carb cleaner or sensor-safe starter fluid into the intake, to see if it would run on external fuel? (even though you checked the fuel pressure) Always important to make that simple basic test, in order to eliminate fuel as the issue.

I should have done this, but I didn't think it would yield anything after I had tested the fuel pressure. I will definitely do this to be 100% sure. I had noticed her throttle body hardly seemed to open even when she was laying on the gas during a start up attempt, is that indicative of a problem, or normal for these cars? I'll also note that manually pushing it open more didn't have any discernible effect on startup performance, so I didn't think about it further

Assuming it won't run with outside fuel; disconnect the battery, touch the cables together, remove the fuel pump relay and the spark plugs. Then have a helper crank it while you ground the plugs on the block, checking for spark. If there's spark, then a compression test is next.

I did a similar test, but again, probably should have done it that way. I disconnected the #1 spark plug and hooked it up to the wire. I still had the battery connected and and had her attempt to start it. I could see spark from the spark plug. I did not have the fuel pump relay pulled though. I'll also add that I apparently didn't have the plug as grounded as I thought as I got a nice shock through the arm upon touching the insulation

Side note: I've never heard of disconnecting the battery and touching the terminals together for testing. What does that do if you don't mind me asking? And will the car still be able to crank like that, with no connection to the battery?

But if there's no spark, check all of the grounds and B+ connections, including the fuse box and under the battery tray. If that doesn't fix it, see if you can rent or borrow a scope, in order to check the waveform of the crank and cam sensors. If you can't find one, at least check those sensor wires for reference, ground, and signal (which will be erratic).
I will see if I can find a scope. I'd considered swapping out both sensors anyway, although the cam sensor looks like a total pain.

And thank you so much avguy! I was worried this post wouldn't get any attention. I will definitely be giving these a shot and seeing where that takes me.

Beyond these, if we were to say everything checks out, sensors are good, we have fuel and spark, compression checks out etc, at that point are we just left with a bad ECM or is there anything else I've overlooked? I verified the timing belt wasn't snapped by having her crank the engine and watching the belt rotate through with no issues, and occasionally the car WILL start up, but only very rarely and after considerable effort and time after initially turning the key.

Thanks again man, seriously!