I'll skip the details and just let you listen to the movie.

Car has spark on all four cylinders. Tested by pulling each wire one by one, sticking a plug on it and watching.
Fuel Guage on the fuel filter hits 40psi during cranking
Swapped in brand new spark plugs/cap/rotor to see if they were the cause.

http://www.lukekailburn.com/media/misc/IMG_0306.MOV

Thoughts?

-Luke

 

You should T pin any of the injectors and test to see if the PCM is grounding them. With a test light. If not then you could have a blown PCM.

 

PCM meaning ECU, under the pass kick panel?
The spark plugs smell of gas after cranking so i know gas is getting into the cylinder.

Thanks for the help!
-Luke

 

Yes PCM, ECM ECU all the samething. Are they fouled with gasoline? Meaning are they soaked with gasoline?

 

Yes it did seem like the plugs were fouled. So I pulled all four plugs. Wiped em clean and let them dry out. I also checked the plug gaps then Tried cranking again with the original plugs. That's when I replaced them with brand new plugs. I'll check the new plugs to see if they are soaked as well

 

assuming the car was running before, you did not change the plug wire positions correct? if you have fuel. and spark. id replace the coolant temp sensor. if that doesn't work borrow a distributor and try it. I had 3 distributors go and they where all different parts, chip inside, coil, and the sensors. so even with spark it may not be sufficient to start. and i believe the coolant temp sensor controls the flow from the injectors.

 

after watching the video sounds like the firing order is off or the chip in the dizzy is shot.

 

counterfeit- that's what i can't get over is how odd the firing order sounds. what do you mean chip in the dizzy? you mean like the coilpack and stuff just under the cap and rotor?

the car was running fine the day before, drove it around the block and parked in the parking lot. went to start and it started up but immediatley died. ever since then this has been the issue.

thanks for the help
-Luke

 

i had this same problem on a d16... firing order was good fuel and plugs new and nothing so we swapped dizzys with a friend and it worked so we got a new one

 

thanks for the suggestions. the haynes book has a bunch of things to test for troubleshooting your way through the dizzy. i'll give it a whirl

 

bump, any other suggestions?

-Luke

 

I would also try changing the dizzy! But 1 quick question why would you change the coolant temp sensor? It has nothing to do with start up...

 

Check firing order and get back to me

 

recommended method for checking firing order? I've checked each cylinder and each is getting fuel and spark, but not sure how to test the order. I was also thinking about verifying TDC on the cam and pulley as another stupid little test, make sure i didn't skip a tooth on the timing somehow.

Thanks,

-Luke

 

well an update, no fix yet.

-purchased new ecu from hamotorsport, tested it, same issue
-i noticed cranking sounded pretty weak so i took the starter down to autozone to bench test it. said it was kinda slow but it was working fine.
-picked up a battery charger and found my battery was nearly drained(probably from the constant cranking attempts. let it charge for a few hours and tried cranking again. same issue, but this time it sounded like it was cranking at 4 times the speed. still, i notice an unpleasant almost grinding mechanical sound. what gives?
-put the car up on jack stands and check TDC on piston 1 and checked timing on the pulley, timing on the cam gear, also had a screwdriving sticking out of the spark plug tube to make sure to watch the piston travel. also checked position of the rotor on the dizzy. all mech timing checked out correct.


any ideas?!

-Luke

 

very good sight for troubleshooting ignition problems

http://techauto.awardspace.com/ignition.html

 

very nice! thanks for the post. reading my way through it now

-Luke

 

checked my spark again, strong white spark(wasn't blue-white like described in the guide). hooked a timing light up to num 1 and checked timing as it cranked. seemed to be right on the money (which should have been proven by mechanically testing it all the other night but good to test redundantly). Also the guide mentioned if the timing light didn't light while cranking it could indicate a weak coil or ignition. so that doesn't seem to be my problem.

-Luke

 

Bump. Two things left on my list to test: compression test(more just for curiousity sake) and test the voltage at each injector. I hear the fuel pump priming, I get 40psi fuel pressure while cranking, and the plugs smell of gas after cranking but haven't tested the injectors to know of they are spraying too little or too much.
Bump for other suggestions

-Luke

 

Bump.
Just picked up a compression tester and a multimeter and test light.
-Luke

 

well this is not what i expected. compression test from:
(dizzy)4-3-2-1(timing belt)
55-120-55-125

yikes?! the 120 and 125 are what i would expect from a completely cold engine, but 55 and 55 what the hell happened to my motor?! i've never once had this car break down on me. literally. in 6 years. i'm gonna go back out and try the tsp of oil trick and see what happens to the numbers. i ran the compression test twice across all cylinders, and had the person cranking it count to 4. this ended up with maybe 4-5 compression strokes.

-Luke

 

:scratches head: ok so i walked back out and did num 1 cylinder again and this time i got 60psi, where as last time i just got 125. I cranked it for 5 seconds this time. no other changes were made.
i tested number 2 cylinder again and got about 60psi which is the same as the last result. i poured about a tsp of oil in and did the test again with no change. 60psi again.

But i can't understand why the first cylinder only got 60psi this time. maybe my battery is draining from all the cranking. i hooked it back up to the charger.


thoughts,

-Luke

 

sigh.. well. leak down test results are in. i used 75psi of air for each test.
cylinder 1: leaks heard from cylinder 2.
cylinder 3: leaks heard from cylinder 2.
cylinder 4: leaks heard from cylinders 1 and 3.
cylinder 2: leaks heard from cylinders 3 and 1.
i never heard any leaks from the radiator, dipstick tube etc.
sounds like its probably my headgasket. but the odd thing with that conculsion is i just did an oil change a day ago and the oil was clean. didn't see any water, fuel, coolant in it.

btw the valve clearances were good except a few here and there but nothing more than .01 or .02mm off.

thoughts, recommendations

-Luke

 

pays to be thorough. did the tests 2 more times back to back this time with all the garage doors closed to try and isolate any noises. i heard intake valve leak on cylinder 2. and what sounds like exhaust valve leak on all 4 cylinders. i stuck my ear up to the muffler and i could hear the sound of air but it was far far away. so i don't know if i was just hearing the air move around the block somewhere or if it was coming into the exhaust. however, what tipped me off was during each test i could smell fuel through the muffler which is telling me there is moving air.
but how could i have messed up exhaust valves on all 4 cylinders?

btw, i'm just continuing to post here for thoroughness so that when i finally do resolve my issue it will be up here for the next poor sap with a no-start to read.

-Luke

 

did the leak down test again this time iwht the turbo mani pulled off the head and i definitely had exhaust valve leak.
checked all the valve train to make sure the valves weren't being held open.

pulled the head off. some of my arp studs came out with the nuts dang it lol.
but the headgasket is mint, not a sign anywhere on it of issues.
here are some pictures of the valves. sorry for the cell phone pics. these are directly after pulling it off the block, didn't even get a chance to wipe it down.just wanted to get some pics up here for you guys to look at. in the meantime i'll be pulling the valves out and checking them.





-Luke