You have to check the fuel pressure in PSI. Lower fuel pressure will cause the injector's not to atomize the air fuel mix. Normally when someone keep's trying to start a fuel injected engine with low fuel pressure the fuel drip's into the cylinder and foul's out the spark plugs causing them to turn from a nice blue arc to an orange or not at all spark. Hold your foot on the floor causes the injection system to go into clear flood and stop pulsing but you have to crank it several times for 10 seconds a piece without turning the key off to clear out the fuel some times much longer or with the old plugs pulled out depending on how long you've been cranking on it. I'd pull the plugs and take a look at them and replace if old or fouled. Then shutoff the spark and crank the engine several times for ten seconds before installing new plugs. Test the pressure it should be 47 to 51 PSI.
Other then that timing could be off. Should you have a 2.0L or a 2.5L, should you think the belt has jumped I would stop and take the car in to a shop. They are both inference engine's and miss handling them will bend valve's causing up to a few thousand dollars in damage. Good luck Tim, Mingo Automotive
Your answer is contradicting in nature , I will go with the last part of 'Mingo automotive's' answer. " won't even fire with starting fluid" , insinuates that it does not start at all , yet-" had to hold foot on pedal to keep it running" indicates it will run , although obviously quite poorly. Full throttle to keep it barely going is an 'old school' indication of jumped time. Be careful , if it has not already bent the valves , don't run it anymore, disassemble and inspect first.
It was out of time when it started before now the timing is right so if the plugs are fouled it wouldn't start and if it has low fuel pressure it won't start right
You state it was out of time before. Did you change a timing belt or someone messed with the dist position? With out knowing the history and your skill level there's not much can be done to help you at home. If you changed a timing belt and the marks were correct I'd guess it's turning real fast meaning the valve's are bent. Normally there is no reason for anyone to be playing with the dist. So it wouldn't be out of time unless the belt jumped or the dist gear stripped. The best advice I can give you without taking it to your mechanic would be to check fuel pressure, run a compression test on all cylinders, install new plugs, find top dead center on cyl #1's compression stroke and check the timing of the belt and dist to be sure it's in time. Then if it doesn't start call a wrecker.
It was out of time someone else changes the belt but didn't time it right it was out by two teeth it started shirty and had to keep foot on has to keep it running the only thing else we did was change the map sensor with a salvage one and a new off valve and ita getting fire but I think it has orange spark
Two teeth off the engine will start and run, not well but it will stay running. Is the engine spinning very fast, if so it has bent valves. If it's not then buy some spark plugs and put a new one on any plug wire and ground it. Than watch the spark if it's not blue, take out the plug and use a plastic handled Phillips screwdriver into the plug wire and keep your hand as far away for the metal as possible and put Phillips about 5/8" from a metal ground point. It should jump that gap every time with a blue lightning bolt while the engine is being cranked. If not you've now narrowed it down to wires, cap rotor, coil or weak crank sensor. There are 3 reason's a engine will not start fire, fuel or timing. Narrow them down and you will find your problem. If for some reason it's in the electronic's it will be cheaper to take it in for repairs then to start throwing parts at it that aren't needed. One thing I'd take a good look at is the crank sensor where it goes into the block and read's off the flywheel. Good luck