Alright, well saturday night I was following my bro to Spokane to sell his car, we were gonna drive mine back) About 30 miles east of Missoula, my car just died. Mind you I was driving like an 80 yr old lady. Tried to start it and nothing. I pulled the valve cover on the side of the road (15 ****** degrees!) and the cam gears were still lined up with each other.

So about 6 AM this morning I finally got home (my buddies came with a flatbed and we towed it home). I tried starting it when I got home to see if I could hear anything internally.... and it sounds fine. Only thing is when I try to start it it makes a popping kind of noise out of the exhaust, like the spark is igniting the exhaust too late when the exhaust valves are open.

So I decide to pul the plugs and do a compression test, results are as follows;

cyl 1: 165 cyl 2: 170 cyl3: 170 cyl 4: 165

Now I know it is getting fuel (pulled an injector out and it sprayed), and I know it is getting spark (pulled plugs out and checked). Theres no water in the oil, and it turns over 100%. I'm a mechanic, and I'm even stumped.

The only thing I think it could possibly be is that the timing belt slipped a gear (more than likely 2) on the crank end of the engine, and I have yet to check that. However from what I've searched on here the compression ratio should be between 135 and 180, so thats telling me I am good as far as compression goes which would lead me to believe the timing is correct.

Any Ideas/thoughts?

BTW: when it died the engine was at normal operating temp, and it wasn't/didn't throw any codes. I'm gonna borrow a volt meter from work tomorrow and go to town on the sensors in the dizzy and what not, but any insight is appreciated!

 

just because you have spark doesnt mean the car is going to start...i worked on a car that had the same problem once...had fuel, compression and spark...why dont you try seeing how much spark you are getting....it might be a weak spark..and if thats the problem then the cause is usaully a rotor....check if your getting a signal to the distributor too.....and check to see if the timing belt did jump a notch..if that happen...your car wont start too...depending on what the degree is...and just because you have good compression doesnt mean taht the timing is correct..

 

yeah, that all makes sense.... im just stressed from having to spend about 300 bucks that I wasn't planning on just to get my car home, and I've got about 12 different scenarios of what happened going thru my head. Im just worried how im getting to work tomorrow, and am about to go to sleep. I plan on checking the timing tomorrow evening after work, and dwelling into it deeper, its just been too long of a weekend to do anything tonight.

 

had a similar situation car just dies in the middle of dowmtown had to get towed balh blah blah...after a different dizzy, main fuse and about 2 stumped days i tought to check the ecu fuse and whaalaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

 

Bump let us know whats up i want to know the final result is.

 

well, i can't sleep, this is beating the **** out of me. I will definately check the ECU fuse tomorrow first thing when I work on it. And I will for sure keep you guys posted. If worst comes to worst, and it does end up needing a rebuild (which I doubt) I'm gonna LS-V it finally, assuming the head is still good.

I really hope it doesnt need to be rebuilt tho, cuz I had plans of boosting it within the next few weeks, and a rebuild would consume my money for that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EFz6er &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">had a similar situation car just dies in the middle of dowmtown had to get towed balh blah blah...after a different dizzy, main fuse and about 2 stumped days i tought to check the ecu fuse and whaalaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll give you 200 shipped for that ys1 to 59102. Let me know!

 

up for any insight

 

check fuses and when you tiurn the key to the on position dooes your cel come on with a "click" as well turn off with one?If it doesnt then it is youir main fuel relay.

 

alright, im gonna head to my buddys house in about 20 to try and figure it out, hopefully i can get it running tonight. If the timing belt did slip, it wont be until tomorrow afternoon, cuz I'm just gonna replace it. I'll let u guys know how it goes.

 

u ever find out what was up?

 

I still havent figured out exactly whats wrong with it, however tonight i checked the timing, its dead nuts on. I checked the injectors, all testing properly, the resistor box, tests out good, the fuel pump, and fuel pressure regulator are both working. Also the ecu fuse is good.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to thinking the distributor took a dump, cuz mainly it sounds like it is firing at the wrong time, and when troubleshooting today at work, I came across a situation where the car was turning over, had fuel, spark, and proper compression, but the distributor had taken a ****, and didnt throw any codes (like my scenario). I'm gonna hopefully borrow this other kids (hopefully he'll let me, billings doesnt have too many obd-0 b16's runnin around). If his work, im just gonna order one thru dizzy king. I'm gonna replace the fuel rail tomorrow and see if it makes a difference (ive got a golden eagle one i was waiting to use when she gets turbo'd) but i doubt it will.

I'll keep u guys posted and let you all know whats going on as I figure it out. I hate diagnostics like this.... I wish it were throwing a code, it would make it sooo much simpler.

 

my friend bought a b20 swap for his da and he bought it with a bad dizzy, it sounds just like the same problem, change it and let us know.

 

you might have a bad ground connection. the ground coming from the chasis to the transmission, or the ignition coil is dead. Had problems with both but at different times, once it was just a bad ground (too loose) caused the motor not to start. The other, the motor just cut out, switched out ignition coils, and bam started up again. hope that helps.

 

I've already checked the grounds, and they are fine as well. I'm thinking its a distributor.

 

sounds like the distributor to me, tryin changing the cap, rotor, and coil beore you buy a whole one..

 

I GOT A 2000 GSR AND I WAS DRIVIN AND MY CAR JUST SHUT OFF ME TO. I CHECKED EVERYTHING COULDNT FIND ANYTHING I HAD SPARK AND EVERYTHING WHEN I ASKED A TECH AT MY WORK HE TOLD ME CHECK MY CIOL AND MY IGNITER SURE ENOUGH I CHANGED THE AND IT WORKED FINE.

 

Two things to try:

Take a spark plug out and rest it on the engine (so it's grounded), and have a friend crank the engine. Make sure there's a spark. This shows your distributor is probably working.

Check the coil with an ohmmeter according to the service manual and make sure it's within factory specs.

 

he knows hes got spark

 

i pulled it last night (the distributor), and the bearing inside is toast. Like it squeaks horribly, and is stiff to turn. On top of that, what i couldnt see (cuz i was at the wrong angle when I popped the cap off before) was the the rotor had melted a little, because of the beareing going out. Also my coil was in fact giving spark, but when I tested it with the ohm meter, it tested bad.

I'm gonna order a new dizzy, and hopefully it will solve the problem, as it should. i'll let you guys know when it gets here.