I sincerely hope that you were wearing a respirator when you stirred the varmint poop up.

There have been more than one instance of varmint chewing wires. Good luck.

I hope you live. Hantavirus is a really bad thing.

 

Oh geez!! Thanks! Appreciate that. Wasn't wearing a mask, but did have gloves. From what I read the disease is only carried in fresh urine, feces, or saliva. But I'm sure I'll stress over it for a few days at least.

Anyways, back to the point, I was able to finally get it started and used starting fluid to check for leaks. I couldn't find anything, but not 100% sure I sprayed every hose or connection, especially with the filter box covering so much stuff.

Startin to get down, but I'll keep movin on in hopes to figure it out.

 

Your local auto parts store may have some loaner tools to help you diagnose the problem.

Compression tester
Fuel pressure tester

Usually you buy the tool and have 90 days to return for a FULL refund.

 

Figured I'd come back and update this.

So after getting the fuel pressure tested, it wouldn't hold pressure in the tank after being shut off and had a hard time holding pressure while it was running. No pressure after being shut off was the reason why it was so incredibly difficult to get started, but it was able to hold enough to keep it running once it was going.

So this was beyond what I was able to fix, as this meant the fuel pump was bad. $750 later the shop had it fixed and car is back up and running.

Totally sucks, but I did learn more about my car and took the time to replace that stupid wooly worm with a Spectre 3" hose while I was at it. Now air flow should be a little better and I know it won't fall back apart again every time I'm working under the hood like that dumb OEM part