Car Won't Start!

[acheddadi]

So I bought myself a 1987 Corolla GT-S last week with a broken timing belt. The previous owner told me that before the belt broke the car ran just fine, and that it had been sitting on his driveway for two weeks. I believe him since I actually remember seeing an ad for his car last month, advertised as running and at a much higher price than what I payed for. Anyways, I had a spare timing belt, tensioner and spring from my '89 MR2s old engine, so I used those. I triple checked all the timing marks, the cam gears align perfectly as well as the crankshaft's gear. I also made sure the distributor's gear was properly aligned, replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires since I had some lying around as well.

Now the car will turn over just fine but won't start! I didn't reinstall any of the other accessories (alternator, water pump, power steering) or the crankshaft pulley, in case I need to remove the belt again.

[allencr]

Now the car will turn over just fine but won't start!

What's the compression?
What does 'turn over just fine mean? That the starter works.
Spark? Fuel- bone dry plug/s or wet & exhaust smell?
Any sorta attempt at all to fire up/start/run from the engine or seem completely dead?
Any pops/burps/farts/backfires from the exhaust and/or intake?

[acheddadi]

Now the car will turn over just fine but won't start!

What's the compression?
What does 'turn over just fine mean? That the starter works.
Spark? Fuel- bone dry plug/s or wet & exhaust smell?
Any sorta attempt at all to fire up/start/run from the engine or seem completely dead?
Any pops/burps/farts/backfires from the exhaust and/or intake?

Sorry for the late reply. I managed to start the car today, it turns out that the previous owner had plugged the spark plug wires in the wrong order. The car starts but runs very rough and won't stay on without giving it gas. Spark plugs looked pretty wet and the exhaust smells like fuel.

[saiGone]

Probably need to adjust your timing, sounds like your not burning the fuel. Wouldn't hurt to change your plugs as well

[jondee86]

Double check the plug wires for 1 > 3 > 4 > 2 firing order, put all the accessory
belts back on, and take the car for a run. You could have one or more cylinders
flooded, and you need to burn the excess gas out... driving on it will do that

Cheers... jondee86

[acheddadi]

So I just finished reinstalling the timing belt for the fourth time, making sure all timing marks are aligned. I reinstalled the distributor at TDC, with the cap off to make sure it was aimed at the first cylinder, put in some brand new spark plugs and wires. Made sure that the order on the dizzy was indeed 1,3,4,2 and that on the engine 1,2,3,4 starting from the radiator to the firewall. Hooked up a timing light on each wire, one at a time making sure they are indeed firing.

All of this and the car still won't properly start and stay on! The car will only run if I floor the gas or open up the idle screw, and even then the engine can barely stay on without stalling.

[jondee86]

ECU water emperature sensor hooked up ?

Unplug the cold start injector just in case it is running constantly.

Cheers... jondee86

[acheddadi]

ECU water emperature sensor hooked up ?

Unplug the cold start injector just in case it is running constantly.

Cheers... jondee86

I'll have a look tomorrow, but I'm sure everything is still plugged. This car only had one owner before me and is completely original, which is probably why the belt snapped since nothing on the car seems to have ever been changed.

[acheddadi]

Water Temp sensor was plugged, made no difference to unplug the cold start injector. Car still won't start, I'm out of ideas here.

[jondee86]

Made sure that the order on the dizzy was indeed 1,3,4,2 and that on the
engine 1,2,3,4 starting from the radiator to the firewall.

I'm wondering about this, as it still sounds like you have some
cylinders not firing. So just to be quite sure, have you got the
plug wires arranged like this...



Cheers... jondee86

[acheddadi]

Made sure that the order on the dizzy was indeed 1,3,4,2 and that on the
engine 1,2,3,4 starting from the radiator to the firewall.

I'm wondering about this, as it still sounds like you have some
cylinders not firing. So just to be quite sure, have you got the
plug wires arranged like this...



Cheers... jondee86

Yes, that is how they are plugged. I verified that each spark plug was indeed firing using a timing light, but still, could it be that the sparks are too weak? Do igniters usually fail on these cars?

[allencr]

What's the compression?
'Do igniters usually fail on these cars?' Sure they can, they affect every cylinder equally and that sure doesn't read like any symptom you've written about.

Cam and/or ignition timing is off, plug wires crossed or maybe an injector or two isn't working.
Find out which cylinders are working and which are not working, then swap the plug wires on the 2 that aren't. Swaping injectors is more of a pain.

[acheddadi]

What's the compression?
'Do igniters usually fail on these cars?' Sure they can, they affect every cylinder equally and that sure doesn't read like any symptom you've written about.

Cam and/or ignition timing is off, plug wires crossed or maybe an injector or two isn't working.
Find out which cylinders are working and which are not working, then swap the plug wires on the 2 that aren't. Swaping injectors is more of a pain.

How can I verify if the injectors are working properly? I have some spare ones from my MR2's engine that I could swap in. But still, I'm wondering why this issue wasn't present before the timing belt snapped...

[ZINCHOTRAN]

You can use a mechanics stethoscope. A short piece of hose held up to your ear or even your finger or a piece of metal and listen and feel for the injectors cycling open and closed.

Also be sure to ohm them with a multimeter.

[Resurrected]

If you suspect an injector issue try unplugging the injectors while the engine is running (only one at a time) and listen for an improvement. If unplugging one of them improves the idle that injector may be leaking. I kinda doubt this is the problem. It really sounds like the dizzy may be off a tooth or the wires are not in the correct order. Good luck! I'll check back later.

[acheddadi]

Little update on my situation. I rummaged through my pile of old MR2 parts and found a mint condition distributor that I could use in the 86. I didn't think this would do anything really, but I was all out of ideas so I decided to try anyways. Much to my surprise, the car fired right up! She ran on my driveway for a good 15 minutes with no hiccups whatsoever.

However, I did notice that the throttle response is incredibly delayed. There is a second long gap between my pressing the gas pedal down and the engine actually revving. I verified the throttle linkage and surely enough, there was quite a lot of slack, so I adjusted it accordingly. This did improve the pedal response a bit, but didn't cure the problem completely. I should also note that the delay is present even when revving the engine by hand on the intake manifold. Also, the engine seems to keep on revving for a second or two even after I let go of the throttle.

I wasn't able to properly adjust the timing as the notch on the crank pulley never seems to be in the same location twice.

[allencr]

Ignore the notch!!! At least until it is verified as exactly TDC, then only for emissions testing.

Adjust it for how well it runs.
Highest/fastest & smoothest idle, then back it off(retard) for 50-100 lower RPM, then test run to check that it only pings/pinks/spark knocks/detonates a little when using the octane of your choice when being abused. Abused is when trying to accelerate/WOT in too high a gear, like @2000 in 3rd or 4th.