Cranks but won't start

I have a 2002 Accent 1.6L, with an Automatic trany and 21K on it. The cars
cranks but does not start. It’s an intermittent problem. The battery has
plenty of juice, and all other electrical gear works, radio, headlights,
and fan. Last time I put it in drive and let the car roll forward. Then
I put it in Park and it started right up, but, it didn't work this time?
Help!!

 

If you're in the U.S., call Hyundai roadside assistance and have it towed
for free to the nearest dealer. The problem is likely covered by the
warranty.

If you wish to try to investigate the problem yourself, I'd first check
for any trouble codes if you can. If you can't do that, see if you have
spark when cranking. There's a thread below where we were discussing the
possibility of a crank sensor failure, but there are many other
possibilities.

 

The problem is no longer intermittent. It's cranking but just not starting
at all. Hyundai towed the car, and the dealer called me and told me that
they can’t find the problem. “It might be a pinched wire,(ha) and it’s
going to take 3 hours to find the cause of the problem.” And get this, it
might not be under warranty, because the vehicle was involved in an
accident. Please, the accident was minor, only the hood became bent. This
is going to be a real fight

 

The dealer is simply taking the position that since the vehicle was
involved in an accident (which they presumably don't know the details of),
they need to do significant diagnosis to find the problem, and won't be
sure what caused the problem until they find it.

This doesn't mean they will charge you. It simply means they're asking
you to promise to cover their time spent on diagnosis in the event they
find the problem and it isn't warrantable. It sounds like they have some
idea what direction they're headed-- i.e., they know what type of problem
they have (e.g. no power to crank sensor) but still need to find out why
that is occurring, and it's not going to be very simple.

If they do tell you it's accident related, be prepared to submit any
needed repairs to an appropriate insurance company. If the insurance
company and dealer disagree, they'll likely work it out between them. If
there's no insurance involved, they should be able to explain to or show
you why the problem is related to the accident.

 

It was the Cam Positioning sensor. The dealer is ordering the part and
will get back to me, and the car is under warranty, I was told.

 

I got the car back yesterday and the crank positioning sensor was replaced.

 

The cam positioning sensor is the same as the crank sensor, right?
Thanks for posting the solution to your problem. I’m having starting
problems as well.

 

Sorry y0g1bare, I ment crank positioning sensor not CAM.

 

I picked up the car Wednesday evening and drove to work on Thursday and now
the check engine light is on again. It’s one day and the car is giving me
problems again. It’s sluggish and at highway speeds it does not want to
up shift into 4th gear. At 60 mph it should tack at around 2500 rpm’s,
but it’s revving at around 4000 rpm’s. This is exactly how the car acted
prior to it no longer starting on me (the cranks positioning sensor). I
honestly think Accents have a sensor problem. This is some speed sensor
acting up. The car has an OD button maybe it has a short. Well, the car
is back at the shop again after one day of driving it.

 

The Speed sensor was bad and the dealer replaced it. So far so good.

 

Common problem.
Inductive crank angle sensor problem, replace it