it will run again.. help!

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I can't get the key out, it stays in the 1 position and won't come back. the trunk release doesn't work, i'm not sure if that's bad linkage from the actuator, or due to the key still in the 1 position. Somebody had stuffed pieces of a spark plug box in the spark plug wires to the coil pack to make the car run rough to say it had a cracked block, which it doesn't. there's no water in the oil, and all the fluid levels are good. The mechanic who was working on the car didn't want to mess with it after the wreck so I'm assuming he sabotaged it to make it look like it wasn't fixable. now almost 3 years later the P.O. gave me the car.

I had the car running sunday, it was really rough and shifted hard, I'm pretty sure it was all due to the cardboard in the plug wires between the contact points. Now that I took off the fuel rail and cleaned the fuel filter, I can't get it to start, it rolls over a couple times and just dies.

any ideas on how to get the key out of the ignition?

Can anyone confirm wether the numbers on the coil represent the firing order, or which cylinder they should be attached to? it's an I4 so they're 1-2-3-4 left -> right but if they're suppsoed to be attached to the corresponding numbers on the coil a couple wires were switched too. they didn't even match up as if that was the firing order say firing order is 1-4-2-3 they would go to 1-1, 4-2, 2-3, 3-4 on the coil, haynes manual is pretty unclear on this imo..

also,

yesterday i got new spark plug wires, i think they gave me the wrong ones, they don't want to seat properly on top of the valve cover. no biggie tho, i pulled the spark plugs individually one at a time and tested for spark against a motor bracket on the front, all are firing good with the old wires now. also I installed some v-power NGK's, for some reasons japaneese motors like Japanese parts, i run them in my 1.3L 94 ford aspire and they last longer than any others.

today i installed a new battery, it's wanting to start up so bad, all of the cylinders are getting fuel, all are getting spark, so at first i was thinking it's gotta be compression, but the manual says i need to have the car at normal operating temp to do compression checks, which isn't possible if it won't run??!?!?!!

So I went and got a can of ether (starting fluid) and my old lady cranked it while i sprayed, it fired up and sounded pretty good while the ether was in there, so i'm guessing it's the 3 year old fuel i'm trying to burn. tomorrow i'm pulling the gas tank and draining all that, probably a couple gallons in there i'm not sure the size but there's a quarter tank left. also gonna pull the hoses from the fuel rail and re-drain the fuel filter to purge the system decent.

I talked to a friend today that said there's a lever inside the center console or by the shifter somewhere that controls the key lock mechanism, and if i shoot 12v to it it should let me retrieve the key, does anybody know anything about this? please let me know it's the next concern after getting the thing running, i'm not familiar with the ignition wiring on these cars, and they have alotta extra "stuff" i don't know about yet.


sorry, i started this thread on another forum, but they're not really being much help, hoping someone here can help give me some more insight to my problems.. thanks in advance! -matt

 

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Updates

I got the key out of the ignition, turned out to be a malfunction with the key interlock system. After cleaning the linkage at the steering column and shifter its working fine.

So, 56 views here and no replies? Nobody even troll spamming about the cardboard in the plug wires? Shameful really.

I've narrowed the problem down to the fuel and I'm in the process of dropping the gas tank, there's a 1/4 tank of 3 yr old gas in there and I need to check/clean the fuel pump. The relay in the eng compartment isn't green, I seen on another site where the stock relay is green, mines brown and there's one more brown one just like it in there.. not sure if its the right relay or even part of the problem, but its different so I figured id throw it in there incase somebody knows something I don't.