Well, I agree it'* better than a payment. But at least payments are regular. With repairs, you never know when they're coming. And, I can't do them myself, so the car sits til I come up with the money. I really wish they're were some local members who could teach me a thing or two, but the closest are around 2 hours or so. Plus, I don't have a garage. Kinda hard to do repairs in the winter.
I would love to do the work, but it is kinda unrealistic at this point. This is my only vehicle and I have a family. I have a daughter that needs to get to school, I have to get back and forth to work, we need groceries and what not, and we couldn't even go to church this morning, which is bothering me more than anything. I need a good reliable vehicle.
At this point, we are seriously considering buying a new (used) vehicle, but of course there are issues there too.
A - we Are (were) about to buy a house in the next few months, and I have been told not to get any loans until we buy our house.
B- Even with a newer used car, of course there are no guarantees.
I really don't know what to do.
I have the Haynes manual, but it still doesn't make much sense to me, and my tool selection is some what limited. I do have a floor jack and a nice Craftsman socket set, but that is about it. Don't get me wrong, I am more than willing to do the work, I just don't know how.

Let'* concentrate on getting you going. We need to make sure it'* a fuel problem. There'* a valve on the fuel rail that'* used to check for fuel pressure. I want you to see if any fuel comes out of this valve. Turn the key to the run position a couple times to pressure the system. Remove the cap from the schrader valve & press down on the center of the valve. When doing this position your hands so fuel can't spray you in the face.

so when I press down on it fuel should spray out?
Thanks

Yes

yes, but it won't give you a fuel pressure reading. If you check it and you do have fuel pressure bleeding out thats good but it may not be enough if you have a partially blocked filter or something else. I would still got get a fuel pressure tester. I think there only a few dollars for a cheap one at Auto Zone or somewhere like it. When the fuel pump went out on mine I was able to restart it once or twice but it died right away. After I connected the gauge it showed no pressure, but somehow it accumulated enough to start it. If you do check it, post up the pressure

I tried jumping it. Twice. No luck. Just in case it wan;t mentioned or it was missed. Alternator i only about 2 1/2 years old. Battery is only about 1 year old, or maybe less. Plugs and wires were just changed when the UIM / LIM was done just over a month ago. And, I just put a new coil on over the summer. Oh yeah, and the fuel pump is only about 6 months old.
Also, the oil pressure has been dangerously low lately. Actually drops down into the red at idle. Not sure why, haven't been able to test it yet. Might be oil pump, bearings, who knows? Don't have a gauge to tel. Maybe it'* actually fine and the gauge in the car is messed up...?

It only takes 5 minutes to check for fuel at the schrader valve. If it squirts out then check for spark. Just put a spare plug on one of the front wires & rest the base of the plug on something metal. Watch for spark while someone tries to start. If you have spark check the other 2 front wires. These are easy things to do & shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. You can do this!

Yeah, I think I can handle that. I'll check in a little bit. Except I don't have a spare plug ad the parts store is not waking distance. I can check the fuel pressure for spray though. If I get to the parts store I can grab a pressure gauge too.
Can I just press down with my hand or do I need anything?