2000 SL2 turns over will not fire

Over the past few months when starting the car mostly when it is cold it would kind of sputter but stay running. Well yesterday I drove up to the store. A little later after I got home I needed to leave again and tried to start the car and it caught for a second and then died. Could not get it to catch after that. It seemed like I flooded it so I tried again this morning and it will only turn over. We are going to replace the spark plugs this evening. It has 145000 miles on it so even if the spark plugs are not the problem they should still be changed. Anyway I thought what was going on over the past few months might be a symptom of what happened.

I turned the key to see if I could hear the fuel pump and I believe I do.

Well we changed the spark plugs and wires and they were black. There also was a little oil on the threads of the plugs. We were hoping this was the problem but it still will not start.

First you need to determine if you have a fuel problem or a spark problem. Pull one of the plug wires off and lay it on something metal(not exhaust manifold if its hot). Have someone spin the car over while you watch to see if the spark arcs to the metal from plug wire. IF you see spark then you probably have a fuel delivery problem.

If no spark, check Crankshaft Position Sensor...That's normally the culprit.

Thanks for the reply. We went ahead and had it towed to the mechanic and it was the engine coolant temperature sensor. He says my engine was thinking it was below 0 and that is why it wouldn't start.

The ECTS should be the FIRST thing replaced as soon as you become the owner of a 2001 or later s-series. This FIFTEEN dollor sensor can lead to many issues. 10 min and you could have fixed the issue instead of paying for a tow truck and mechanic to fix it for you.

Black spark plugs were clearly the key. When the ECTS is bad, the PCM runs the car rich.