I have a 1996 Geo Metro with the 3 cylinder and 5-speed. The engine will turn over, but not start. It was this way when I got it, so I do not know how it came to be in this condition. It apparently had been sitting for a few months when I got it, but the previous owner was unsure of what planet he was on, so any additional information was not readily available. I did have to replace the starter to get it to turn over, so I am assuming (worst-case) that the old man probably tried to jump start the car and at some point may have connected either the cables or a battery charger incorrectly. I have had it in a shop for several months, and they are about out of ideas.
The motor will actually try to fire (it gets about 5 pulses to the coil each time I try to crank it) but will not continue starting or run. It has good compression on all cylinders and the timing belt is lined up properly.
At first the shop told me it was a bad ECM, which they replaced, but now they say that this is not the problem. We've had the replacement ECM back to the manufacturer and they say it is still good. The shop has tested and replaced the cam position sensor. They also claim to have tested all the ignition components and the relays. There apparently don't seem to be any trouble codes stored in the computer (again, according to the shop).
The car appears to have the proper ground straps installed. I have removed the ignition module and swapped it out on an older (95) metro, but the module seems to be okay. I have also checked the fuel pump and it seems to be working, although when the hose is disconnected from the throttle body, the pump will run for a few seconds and then a relay clicks and the pump shuts off (presumably the fuel pump relay). The pump seems to run for a longer period of time than the coil gets spark, so the two don't appear to be directly related. The shop has indicated that it could possibly be fuel related. Their specific recommendation was that the fuel injector would be bad from sitting, but it seems to work as long as there are pulses to the coil.
There had been some sort of alarm or remote starter installed at one time, but it has been removed. I am assuming it was probably an alarm, given it has a 5-speed tranny. The only evidence I could find was a spliced wire going from the fuse panel to the starter. Neither the shop nor I could find any other wires either spliced, disconnected or broken. Again, they claim to have gone through the wiring harness before reinstalling the ECM in order to eliminate what may have damaged the ECM (when this was the assumption).
Apparently the next step will be to go back through the diagnosis of each component separately, followed by replacement of all the components up to and including the harness. At this point, if anyone has specific knowledge about the fuel injection system and how it would affect the ignition system, or any other info that I may have overlooked it would be appreciated.