[lloydia22]

Can I spay starter spray into a fuel injected carb to get a vehicle started, like we used to do with the old 4 barrels?

[CaptainRich]

That depends...

If your car has a Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor, spraying into it will damage the sensor.
If you remove it, the car probably won't start anyway.

If your car doesn't have a MAF, you could try the spray trick, but many fuel injected engines need numerous signals from the engine to the Engine Control Module (ECM) in order to fire the plugs.
And we don't know if your engine has spark yet...

Don't spray anything into the engine if you don't know if you have spark to burn it.

You could be building up for an explosion, or at least a hydro-lock.

Tell us more about your car (year, make and model, etc), and what other symptoms you have. Full battery? Strong spark? Are you certain that you have gas in it?

Let us know.

[lloydia22]

CaptainRich- It's a 1999 Dodge Ram1500 pickup V8 5.2 liter. It was bogging down all of sudden and would not shift gears it appeared. In the driveway, I floored it and it shut down. It started the next morning idling fine but still no power - would not get over 15 mph. Plugged in an OBDII and returned codes for misfire on 4 and 6 cylinders. Replaced plugs, wires, dist. cap and rotor, verified spark and coil. Added 5 gal. of gas to move needle to 3/8 - half mark on gauge. Verifeid fuel pump is turning on but can't check fuel pressure without engine running. Charged battery to verify full charge. It will turn over but will not start. After sitting for 4 or 5 days I can get it to crank for a second and then it will die, just going back to turning over and trying hard to start. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[CaptainRich]

You can still check cranking fuel pressure, but not running fuel pressure.
Another test that may provide some help is to see if the injectors are firing. A noid light is needed for this test and can be done without the engine running. Simply unplug the injector harness from the injector and plug the noid light into the harness while cranking: the light should flash similar to a spark test.
Also: if the vehicle is high-mileage, you may have fuel pressure but low fuel volume. Have you replaced the fuel filter yet?

[lloydia22]

CaptainRich - have not tried the injector test yet, will try this weekend. I appreciate the advice! Thought it may be the fuel filter, but it is in the tank with the fuel pump. Dropping the tank was my last resort. If all else fails, that would be the next step? Thanks!

[CaptainRich]

My bad. The filter is in fact in the tank and isn't easily serviced. Still, verify adequate fuel pressure and volume to be sure.
But, ALL else rarely fails.
Take the diagnosis step by step using a strategy based diagnosis. Analyze the conditions that are causing the failure and determine which course is the best.
Very rarely does this lead to multiple components needing replacement.

[lloydia22]

Thank you CaptainRich- I will blog once I have a chance to continue my search. I'm a self taught, can't afford a mechanic, affected by the economy, shadetree kind of guy.. so your help has been appreciated.. I will let you know how it turns out!