2003 Saturn Ion Turns over but doesn't start

[chalouder]

Hi folks, I hoping you can help me figure out what wrong with my son's 2003 Ion.
He says that he drove over a large bump in the road and that the car died. When he went to try and restart it, it just turned over, but wouldn't start.
I went to go look at it, and when I tried to start it the battery was dead (it was a 3 year old refurb battery). I replaced the battery and tried to start the car again. I thought it wasn't even turning over and pulled the starter off thinking that it was the problem. We took the starter to the parts store and it passed their check machine. I finally looked in the right spot, and the starter is turning the engine over (Yes I'm an ID10T). At this point I have exhausted my limited auto repair skills and have NO IDEA why it's not starting.

What am I missing?
Where should I look next?
Is there a fuel pump cut-off switch like some Fords have?

Please help, and thank you,

[fdryer]

Did you go over the car carefully to see if anything was damaged when it went over the bump? If severe enough, was anything loosened and rattling? What condition are the wires in (engine wiring, fuse box, etc)? Did you check for blown fuses? Doing a simple check after an incident that may or may not be related can sometimes reveal simple repairs (blown fuse, loose wiring, etc). With a no start issue, most problems are either fuel or ignition related.

Presuming fuses are good and all wiring is fine, is security off during starting? You have two ways to check for fuel and spark; spray starting fluid into the throttle body and try starting or perform procedures to isolate fuel and ignition. Spraying starting fluid may be the quickest test otherwise you can try the longer procedures next. Starting fluid helps to determine whether a problem is fuel or spark.

When ignition is turned ON (engine not started), fuel pump operation runs for two seconds then shuts off. You might be able to hear a quiet hum/hiss sound of the fuel pump or locate the fuel test valve on the fuel rail by the engine. Remove the black plastic cap to reveal a schrader valve (same as tire valve), cover loosely with a rag while depressing the valve stem expecting fuel to spray out. Fuel spray means fuel and pressure are available to injectors. The engine computer operates injectors. A spark test is next and requires either removing the ignition control module/coil pack assembly and plugs for reassembly over the engine to observe for spark while starting.