4Age No Start - Need Help From The Efi Wizards

[parrot]

If it was running before and the knock pins are wrong, you're in trouble!

 

The Dizzy is pointing at No. 1 when No.1 cylinder is on compression stroke? i.e. not 180 degrees out?

 

There should be an earth strap from passenger side engine mount bolt to chassis rail, plus another from the bolt hole at the rear of the exhaust side of the head to the firewall.

[altezzaclub]

Fascinating!

 

So, is the cambelt mark for the aligning actually stamped into the rim of the gear at the factory?? Not just a spot of white paint?

 

..and if the pins are opposite on inlet and exhaust then the only way to get it like you have it is to be using two inlet cam gears.. or have the white mark on the rim in some random spot.

 

Take the cam cover off and look at the cam lobes. Work out if they are in the correct positions.

[rian]

If it was running before and the knock pins are wrong, you're in trouble!

 

The Dizzy is pointing at No. 1 when No.1 cylinder is on compression stroke? i.e. not 180 degrees out?

 

There should be an earth strap from passenger side engine mount bolt to chassis rail, plus another from the bolt hole at the rear of the exhaust side of the head to the firewall.

 

Yep, the distributor is pointing to no.1 when no.1 cylinder is at the top of it's compression stroke (checked it with a screwdriver in the spark plug hole), and the timing mark on the crank pulley is pointing to 0.

 

I'll chuck another earth on the head if it's meant to have one. I never installed one when I did the engine swap I don't think.

 

 

Fascinating!

 

So, is the cambelt mark for the aligning actually stamped into the rim of the gear at the factory?? Not just a spot of white paint?

 

..and if the pins are opposite on inlet and exhaust then the only way to get it like you have it is to be using two inlet cam gears.. or have the white mark on the rim in some random spot.

 

Take the cam cover off and look at the cam lobes. Work out if they are in the correct positions.

 

Yeah the gears have little timing dots stamped into them, then they have been painted over with white paint. I' don't understand what you're saying about having two inlet cam gears. The gears are probably the same for inlet and exhaust, but the knock pins are meant to be in different orientations when the timing marks line of with the backing plate.

[altezzaclub]

Yeah the gears have little timing dots stamped into them, then they have been painted over with white paint.

 

That's what I expected. So if the paint marks are both vertical then you shoulld have the inlet pin up and exhaust pin down, like the diagram. Surely your exhaust pin can't be up as it looks like in your photo??? There must be two pin holes in the cam gears & the exhaust pin must be in the bottom hole in your photo. It wouldn't have ever run if the cam was 180deg out.

 

I reckon its in the compression... That is, you have actually seen a spark plug sparking haven't you? If they fire and they're wet then it must be lack of compression.

[B.L.Z.BUB]

You can see both the knock pins 180 degrees out from each other in the pics. There are two pin holes per cam gear.

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2015 by B.L.Z.BUB

[altezzaclub]

There are two pin holes per cam gear.

It had to be like that- I wonder why they made two holes?

 

So definately not a cam timing problem.

[B.L.Z.BUB]

 

I wonder why they made two holes?

 

I'm assuming so you can use the same gear on both inlet and outlet cam.

[rian]

I reckon its in the compression... That is, you have actually seen a spark plug sparking haven't you? If they fire and they're wet then it must be lack of compression.

 

Yep, I've pulled the plugs out of the engine, inserted them back into the spark plug leads and then held the threads of the plug against the engine while cranking it over and there is a nice blue spark.

 

I think you're right about compression, because after I did the wet compression test I put the plugs back in while there was still oil in the cylinders and it fired straight up and ran for about 5 seconds before dying, presumably once it had blown the oil past the rings and lost compression.

 

So now the issue is: do I rebuild it or just buy a new long block?

 

At the moment I'm leaning towards a new long block because it will probably be cheaper, and that means a lot to a uni student.

Edited May 5, 2015 by rian

[altezzaclub]

You'll only know what you strip it down anyway. Head off will show you the wear in the bore and the valve wear. Sump and bearing caps off will show you how bad the bottom end is.

 

maybe it just needs a valve grind

 

maybe it just needs a hone & new rings

 

maybe it just needs a rebore with new pistons & rings

 

maybe it needs a head job, a rebore, a crank grind & new bearings... ah no, long block time!

 

So make sure it is a compresion problem then strip it & chase quotes for what it needs. New is always better.

[LittleRedSpirit]

Make sure you try another ecu first. The reason being, the car sat for a while then played up, compression loss is usually just from the internals wearing out, not something that just happens one day. Sometimes if you leave it sit, hoses perish, bugs move into anything that's not closed off, you can have some real odd issues.

[B.L.Z.BUB]

installed the spare ECU. Plugged it in, no error codes, cranked engine - didn't start.

 

:(

[altezzaclub]

bugs move into anything that's not closed off

 

Mudwasps! grrrr..!!!

[ke70dave]

Have you confirmed fuel pressure at the rail?

[rian]

Have you confirmed fuel pressure at the rail?

 

Not yet. The pumps are priming and there is definitely fuel at the rail but I have no pressure tester to test for pressure. I'd be grateful for a lend of one if someone in Brisbane has one ;)

Edited May 6, 2015 by rian

[snot35]

Let us know how you go with this, I have a twinky that sounds like it has very similar problems. Must get back to it...