98 Grand Am Se 2.4 won't start, backfires

[Keith]

I have a salvaged 1998 Pontiac Grand Am Se with the 2.4L engine. The car has been repaired and just needs to be inspected but now it won't start. It's been outside in extremely low temperatures for the past couple weeks and had very little fuel left in it. I got it started after a little while of playing with it, so I let it run for about 30 min to an hour. The next day I put 5 gallons of gas in it, but couldn't get it started.

I put it inside one of the bays at work so it would be heated over night incase a line was frozen, but still couldn't start it the next day. Today I put a jumper pack on it and poured some dry gas in the tank and tried to start it with some Starting Fluid. I was able to get it run really horibbly for a couple seconds while I feathered the throttle for a little while and then it would violently backfire back out the intake and stall. At one point it blew the cover off the air filter. I haven't actually verified spark, but I would imagine it's getting spark if it's backfiring.

Has anyone else ever had this problem? I need to get this car started ASAP so I can get the salvage inspection finished and register the car.

Thanks!

[93GASE3300]

first of all do an oil change you never know what the oil in it is like. Second I would run a fuel pressure gauge to see if you have fuel pressure to begin with. Take a look at the plugs too to make sure they arent fouled out on you. And if you have the guage you may want to do a compression test to see the health of the cylinders in the motor. Because its a junkyard car its hard to tell how long it has sat and the history of the car so good luck and let me know if you need any help.

[Keith]

Actually I bought the car from a salvage dealer less than a month after it was totalled. But anyway I took all the plugs out yesterday and they were really fouled and smelled like gas, so I'm gonna try and throw in some new plugs.

thanks

[93GASE3300]

That would be a good idea, while your at it you might want to get plug wires too its a 4 cylinder so it shouldnt be much for plugs and wires. Let me know how everything goes.

[RocketFast321]

I don't think we have plug wires on our cars :???: Last time look under the hood i did not see any

[Keith]

No you're right there aren't any plug wires. There's that one piece (It says 2.4L DOHC on it I think) that substitutes the spark plug wires. This is my first GM and I'd actually never seen that before. Anyone know what the name of that piece is and how much a new one goes for?

[RocketFast321]

yea you right it is all under the twincam cover. I
would try http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/

[JMILLS]

Ive heard it called the Ignition covere, or the IDI cover (I think).

[goldfinger]

If you take off the IDI cover you should be able to see the coil packs. Coil-on-plug design. The whole thing just sits down on top of the plugs eliminating wires+distributer.

[93GASE3300]

forgot about that, I thought it was the same engine in the cavalier and sunfire that has plug wires. Oops! In that case you may have a bad coil and if thats the case good luck cause they arent very cheap.

[Keith]

Does anyone know where I can find a diagram of that whole piece with part names because I'm unfamiliar with coil-on-plug design and I don't know what each part is called.

Thanks