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There's three things that make a car go. Fuel, electricity and mechanical. You got fuel and you say you got spark so that leaves mechanical. Your timing may have gone wonky somewhere. It could be the belt or it could be the crankshaft position sensor. It could be something else.
Gonna need a mechanic for diagnosis but you can get a handheld scanner and pull the codes from it.
I assume you're not punching the accelerator like you would with a carbed engine. That can flood an injected car pretty easily.
If your timing belt had slipped some cogs, it wouldn't have been running perfectly the other night.
I've seen the wrong - or badly worn - spark plugs do weird things like that. Some cars are extremely sensitive to having certain plugs.
I have run across a couple vehicles where a faulty coolant temp sensor had the ECM screwed up, and it was just dumping too much gas into the engine when it was cold. That's a long-shot, but a possibility.
Beyond that, it's really hard to guess from from my warm, comfortable recliner that is sitting in front of the fireplace...
So our car has been sitting for most of the week and we went to start but nothing. It would crank and crank but would not start , the spark pulgs have gas on them so im thinking fuel isnt an issue. The wife said it started last night. The weather man said its been around 10here or below, but feels like -5. Could the cold be messing with the battery enough to turn it but not enough to start the engine.
You verified spark, right? If not get yourself a spark tester. They're cheap. $5.
You smell gas on the plugs, right?
Suspect timing belt. When the car turns over is it a steady wa-wa-wa-wa-wa, or an interrupted wawawaw-wa-wa-wawawawa.....
Should be the former.
Timing belt could have gotten old, cold, and broken.....
OP,
How many miles on the plugs? Had the same issue in cold weather with my daughter's car. Original plugs, non-platinum, non-iridium, had almost 50K on them. A new set of Denso platinum plugs was the cure.
FWIW
YMMV
The battery may have been too cold to provide the voltage needed operate the fuel and ignition systems properly. Try jump starting it from another car with the source car spinning its engine to provide the voltage. You really do not need to heat the wet plugs that much. A heat gun or hair dryer will do. Try placing the plug on a grounded metal part of the engine, away from the open plug hole, and try the starter. Check if a nice bright spark jumps the gap. Do not try holding the plug end of the ignition wire in your fingers while doing this test. Modern ignitions systems can put out enough current and voltage to be a shock danger. If you are holding onto a leaking plug wire and the engine starts you will get really zapped.
After getting the thing running treat it to a new set of plugs and wires.
I put motorcraft platinums in this fall. I did have it hooked up to the battery charger but not for to long.... i did notice when trying to start it (cranking it) the interior lights kind of flicker and the tape player would act like its trying to play.
I don't know if this vehicle has a security chip key? Possible dead battery? When my DW recently lost the guts to our key the engine would still crank and not start.
I put motorcraft platinums in this fall. I did have it hooked up to the battery charger but not for to long.... i did notice when trying to start it (cranking it) the interior lights kind of flicker and the tape player would act like its trying to play.
When you figure out what the problem is please report back. That will be helpful to other people who may have a similar problem.
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