TL;DR: 1999 Ford Escort 2.0L SOHC (SE trim). Cranks (starter spins), won't start. Has spark, has fuel, engine timing is right, only OBDII code is "random misfire." Please help!

Looking for help to diagnose our low mileage (136k km) 1999 Ford Escort. I've tried everything and am still coming up empty

History: Towards the end of a 1.5 hour drive, car started misfiring and having low power. Managed to get home. Turned off the engine, tried to start it again right away but couldn't, and hasn't started since. Before this, the car was idling rough immediately after starting but fine after. Occasionally misfiring while driving (5-6 times a year?)--one time bad enough to stall--but always intermittent and usually went away by increasing throttle.

OBDII: Only two codes being throw: P0300 Random/multiple cylinder misfire detected; and P0455 Evaporative emission system leak detected (large leak). The evap leak is almost certainly from before the present issue: the previous owner had a shop investigate check engine light (6+ years ago), they did a smoke leak test and concluded that the gas filler neck was leaking. No action has been taken. The neck is rusty, and you can catch a light smell of gasoline near the car here and there, but nothing major.

Spark: checked for spark at all 4 plugs by pulling out plugs and cranking engine with plug touching engine body. Orange spark visible at all 4 plugs.

Fuel: fuel pump is turning on (humming when turning key on), pressure at the rail (40-50 psi*), injectors are firing (audible clicking and also confirmed spraying when cranking with rail pulled out).

Previously the car would start up briefly when I sprayed throttle body cleaner into the air intake. I was so sure it was a fuel issue, and I:
1. changed fuel filter
2. changed fuel pump -- which marginally increased pressure at rail (from 30-40 to 40-50 psi), and the car actually (kind of) started up 2-3 times but ran really rough and died in seconds. Then hasn't started since.
3. cleaned fuel injectors -- one injector had quite a bit of black (rust?) particles come out when backflushing. But, no difference after cleaning. And in fact, after doing all this, now even spraying throttle cleaner can't start the car...

* Re: fuel pressure spec: Chilton manual says 80 psi with pump running full power (using OBD tool to send command). My tool isn't capable of that, but based on another thread on this forum, seems like 40-50 psi is normal (when I was cleaning injector, even 10 psi was enough to get fuel spraying out).

Timing: Check engine timing (crankshaft / camshaft) -- marks are perfectly aligned. Timing belt is in good condition (even though hasn't been changed per records), not loose at all.

Air: Tried disconnecting the intake boot (in case filter clogged), tried unplugging throttle position sensor (per ChrisFix for quick check of bad sensor), no change.

Compression: >100 psi on all 4 cylinders (specifically: 110 psi, 125 psi, 160 psi, 110 psi, on cylinders 1-4)

Misc:Engine temperature sensor is good -- was able to read temperature on OBD tool. Changed PCV valve.

Only thing I can see left (assuming I didn't mess up the above tests) is bad sensor(s) throwing off ignition timing, or else, a bad computer (I don't believe there are any other electronic control units/modules for this car). But not sure where to start. Would be very very grateful for your advice and help!

 

Can you do the following?

When attempting to start and it does not start, remove one or two spark plugs and tell us if they were wet or dry.

If wet, possible ign problem, if dry fuel supply problem.
Let us know what you found and we can go from there, OK.

 

Pulled plugs 2, 3, 4. Smells like fuel, but can't really say they're wet.

These are new plugs I installed during the last few months of troubleshooting. They already look pretty bad (scaley and rusty) -- is that a natural consequence of being left wet w/ fuel? The brown/white scaley residue does wipe off pretty easily though.

Photo below:

 

With the plugs back in, attempt to start the engine, we know it won't start. What we are looking for is water contaminated fuel.
Now after it won't start, remove a wet plug and see if you can lite the wetness on the tip of the plug. If it won' lite up and ignite
that confirms fuel is full of water..

The tank will need to be dropped , emptied, and cleaned out and while there , repair that filler neck that is allowing water to get into the tank..
If you remove the fuel filter, turn it so it can drain out the end the fuel went in. It probably was full of water.
When you are done with the repair and installing the new fuel filter, the rest of the fuel lines to the engine need to be cleaned out with clean gasoline.
If you open, no need to remove, the fuel line going to the pressure regulator OR fuel rail , just turn the key on wait 2 seconds then off and repeat. The fuel pump will pump the bad fuel out and when it is clean. tighten everything and after cranking some the injectors should start injecting clean fuel and it should fire up.

Don't forget to clean the remaining spark plugs they are probably still wet with water...

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Do I need to worry about water in engine? (flooded engine?) Any way to clear that somehow? Thinking about how throttle cleaner used to and now doesn't fire up the engine anymore.

Will check spark plug and report back.

 

Once the engine starts and gets hot , that moisture , if any, will go out.

 

Amazing, your diagnosis was spot-on! Got the water out of there and the car is alive again. Waiting for a new filler line from Rockauto.

Can't thank you enough. I was getting pretty desperate after everything I checked...but I never thought about this xD

 

Thank You for the update..