car suddenly wont start - never ran great anyway, esp. cold, now cranks, but won't st

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Originally Posted by rjSupra

Any thoughts what that wisp of smoke behind the motor, close to the firewall could have been? And the slight plastic-y burning smell? That happened the last time I tried to start her, with a paper clip jumping either the engine error code check terminals, or the fuel pump 12v bypass I can't quite remember which one I had it in.

Sure.... the wire harness. Start there. Check to see if you can hear fuel moving through the fuel rail with B+ and FP jumped... check if B+ has a constant 12v.

Originally Posted by rjSupra

It sounds like the 02 sensor can't be at fault for all these issues, so I appreciate knowing that now. Don't really know what they do aside from I gather measuring oxygen levels in exhaust to send setting info to the car for fuel rich / lean levels etc.

A bad O2 sensor may be good enough to cause a slightly bad reading.... Usually when they go though they're so far out of range that the ECU disregards the sensor altogether.