I have proof here at the house that a car with crank walk will start up and run. Although you are right if it were that bad then the crank would hit the cas which in turn would hit the plate causing your car to shut off.

BTW I'm not the one who posted the crank walk suggestion it was Dave, He was on my laptop.

My best suggestion for you is to bring it over so we can look it over, It is very hard to tell what is wrong with a car without actually looking at it. There are way too many variables.