Vehicular woes

I have this 99 Windstar 3.8 liter that has been sitting in my driveway for the past year, when I bought the minivan its engine ran fine, all it really needed was tie rods, brakes, and a new battery, but due to our economic situation I kept putting it off and walking wherever I needed to go.  I think it may be of some importance to note, I live in Florida so the car did not sit around in freezing temperature.

With this tax return I decided it would be nice to have transportation once again, so I can take a few CNA classes and become certified, and finally get a job.  First thing on the list was the battery, so we bought it for $96 at Walmart, brought it home and connected it to my car.  After doing so, I started the ignition a few times, and the engine wouldn't catch.  I let it sit for about twenty minutes, started it again and the car started.

Great, the car runs.. and it sounds pretty good.  I let it run for a couple of minutes, checked out the blinkers to ensure they worked, then the noticed steam coming from the engine compartment, I took a look and noticed the steam was coming out near the air filter housing.  It was also looked like it was coming out of the exhaust pipe, but not billowing out huge amounts just a little bit and was not raising in the air like you would expect.  I thought it may just have been condensation build up from sitting for the past year, but after about thirty seconds of steam the engine started to quit and I turned it off.

I checked the oil, and it still had a amber color to it, it did not look muddy or cloudy.  I couldn't tell a difference in the radiator fluid, it was dirty but there were no oily looking spots raising out of the reservoir.  I decided, perhaps it was just condensation and gave it another try.. no go - the ignition goes off, the serpentine belt spins around but the engine is not catching.

So far, I have checked the oil it still looks fine, the radiator fluid looks fine, and I even got a spark from a spark plug although the threads are dirty, which worries me.  I'll include a few pictures here showing everything I have seen thus far.

Here is half of the air cleaning housing unit, it connects to the other half which contains the air filter.  Take a look at the crud in this thing.


The other half is pretty clean, and the air filter does not have this brownish liquid in it,  I'm not sure what it is but it may be oil mixed with water.. because...

This part, connects to that half of the air filter housing unit and to the throttle to the air intake manifold.  You can barely make it out in this picture, but that liquid stuff is near the hole.  Which leads me to the next part.

This tube connects to the rubber tube pictures above, it had liquid all over the connector.

The above tube also connects to the valve cover, so I think the mystery goo could be coming from there.. but I am mechanically illiterate.  I don't understand how oil could travel up that tube unless there was tremendous pressure.  I also don't know why it would cause it to steam.  I don't even know why there is a tube connecting to the head, and the air filter housing unit, there is not one for the other head.  Anyone want to explain that one to me, I'm not even sure what this tube is called.

Here is the spark plug, I tested it and the distributor is giving it a spark.. but look at that gunk on the threads.  The leads of the spark plug, where the spark occurs and the white insulator that houses it are clean though.. That gunk sort of worries me though, I've heard it is a pretty bad thing to occur.







None of this really addresses why my car won't start in the first place, I am getting a spark so as far as I know the engine should start.  Perhaps the fuel filter or pump are dead, I have some engine starter I plan on running through the air filter housing unit where that tube connects into it and seeing if the engine will start tomorrow.

Please understand, I am completely new at this, the most advanced thing I have done on a car is change brakes.  The Windstar is old, and not worth having repaired but I do want to learn how to repair cars on my own so that in the future, I can save some money without destroying the car in the process.  I've tried to include every detail I could, and apologize for my utter ignorance on the matter.


Oh, and my daughter wants me to put a picture of her up here, she says "hello" :D  Don't mind the steering wheel cover, that came from the person who owned the car before me.. the wheel itself is filthy, and worn away.