I just finished my obd1 d15b vtec swap and the car won't start. Im getting good spark, firing order seems to be correct, getting fuel, sounds good when its cranking but just never starts. My starter is new, the battery is good. We tried jumping the car too to see if maybe the battery was too drained from constantly trying to start it...but nothing. I'm using a p28 ecu that i bought off ebay. The guy SAID it was an auto ecu, but can you tell from just looking at it? the dizzy's off of a 92-95 civic. 2 of the mounting holes line up good and the 3rd closest to the friewall is about a cm or less off. We've rotated the dizzy every way possible and at one point it sounded like it was about to start. The timing belt was in good condition when i got the motor so i didnt change it. So it seems to be in tact. theres 3 grounds bolted onto the thermostat but the brown plug on it isnt even plugged in because there doesnt seem to be one that matches on my harness. But im using my dx harness so my plug from the dx motor should at least still be on there right? If the brown plug on the thermo's not plugged in anywhere would that cause the car not to start? Basically what i need is a list of things to check over because im out of ideas and i dont want to go out & buy new parts before knowing the problem because that gets expensive Please help!

 

even if it is a manual, the ecu will work cause i used my p28 manual on my brothers auto car.

 

ok, so i know its not the ecu...but would the thermostat cause it to not start?

 

What do you mean by "we've turned the distributor every way possible"? If you rotate it as far as the head will let you, and it tries to start, then the timing may be off.... The thermostat won't cause the motor to not start.

What car is this going into? I assume you've already converted to OBD1??

 

it's going into my 91 crx. The wiring is all done, mpfi & obd-1 conversion. It does seem like a timing problem, but im not sure how to look at the belt & tell if its timed. The belt seems to be in good shape, and from what i can see it hasnt lost any teeth. And i've never removed the belt so i assume its lined up correctly from the cam gear to pulley. How can I check it to make sure though? Thanks for your help

 

Oh, come to think of it we did tighten the belt....just never removed it. But that very well could have thrown the timing off. And thanks for clearing up the crap about the thermostat

 

Do you have a check enging light?

The best way to check timing is to use a timing light. I would say its right though if you've never touched it. What distributor are you using? You can't use an OBD0 dizzy with an OBD1 ECU.

 

It shouldn't have unless you turned the crank while the belt was loose and slipped a couple teeth...

 

well the lines are matched up when the first piston is all the way up and the rotor is the first pin. ( I can tell because my dist. cap is clear ) anything besides timing that could be causing it not to start?

 

You need 3 basic things for a motor to run. Spark, air/fuel (proper air/fuel mixture is good too), and compression. If you are putting a motor back together, you need to check the timing too.

 

alright, well i have good spark, getting fuel, and lets just assume for now the timing is right....what fuel problems could i check for? Regulator? how can i be sure my injectors are working right? theyre giving fuel, but they could be pulsating wrong or something? Do i need to look over my wiring again? Are there ANY sensors that would cause the car to not start if they were bad??

 

based on what its doing seems like its your wirng go to your dizzy and switch the two white wires and try to fire her up (i did the same swap on a dx and i ran into problems speaking from experience)

 

alright, i'll give that a try. Thanks for the help guys

 

...and what did you do about the thermostat. Do i need to splice in the obd1 plug? right now there's nothing hooked up on that brown plug. how much will that affect the performance of the car once it starts and nothings plugged in.

 

i just took an obd1 plug from the junk yard, cut off the old dx plug and wired on the obd1 so it would just plug in

 

ok, well i tried switchin the 2 white wires but when i did that there was NO spark so i switched them back. my spark plugs keep getting "foul", they're covered in gas. What else could it be??