Engine wont start - cranks OK - NOW WITH VIDEO

[Apolan]

Spend up until now trying to get my engine to fire for the first time since rebuild - no luck!

The situation as follows:

- injectors spray fuel (i used the 210cc ones from afm engine)
- spark plugs give spark (in correct order)
- hopefully i have sufficient compression - its a fresh rebuild

Engine cranks ok. Now that i changed the ground of the battery even better, not sure its optimal tho. For a second it sounded/smelled like it fired a cycle or two, but no luck in getting it to run.

Im not sure about the timing, need to set that. Tried adjusting the distributor slightly, but no luck.

Any ideas? Could it be that the ground is still to weak (now its on engine head). Could it be that the timing is so far off?

Thanks for your time!

[Ivan141]

Pull some codes off the ECU if you can. It will tell you if your sensors are wired correctly. I had a similar problem earlier a few times, once it was the sensors at the back of the head that where connected backwards (blue & brown ones), the other time it was a timing issue.

[aussiefan]

i had pretty much the same problem
crank was good so were the spark plugs and the injectors
i'm not good in engine diagnostics so i just tell you what worked for me
i renewed the grounding battery>chassis, engine>firewall and engine>frame
removed the spark plugs
pluged off fuel pump
cranked a few times to get all the unburnt fuel out of the combustion chamber
put new spark plugs in, nothing special, just standard ones
and that's it, on the 2nd or 3rd crank the engine started properly

[jondee86]

What he ^^^ says After a few times cranking and not starting, the
plugs get wet, and won't fire no matter how much you try. If this is the
problem (easy to check by pulling the plugs) pop in a fresh dry set, and
often it will fire up straight away.

You can dry wet plugs out by holding them over a gas flame for a few
minutes. Clean off any carbon buildup with a wire brush at the same time.
Wire brushing is not recommended by the factory, but a clean, dry plug
is 100 times better than a wet carboned one !!

Cheers... jondee86

[max_ae86]

jondee86 Wrote:What he ^^^ says After a few times cranking and not starting, the
plugs get wet, and won't fire no matter how much you try. If this is the
problem (easy to check by pulling the plugs) pop in a fresh dry set, and
often it will fire up straight away.

You can dry wet plugs out by holding them over a gas flame for a few
minutes. Clean off any carbon buildup with a wire brush at the same time.
Wire brushing is not recommended by the factory, but a clean, dry plug
is 100 times better than a wet carboned one !!

Cheers... jondee86

I had the same issue with spark plugs. After good cleaning it started with no probs. Try to clean plugs!

[jonny514mcl]

are you sure the timing is not set 180 degrees out?

[Apolan]

Ok today im checking and fixing all the suggested bits. Just have one important question:

I'm cheching the timing belt alignment, and the manual isnt very specific on this one. How should it be aligned - now i have the cam sprockets marks aligned with the markings on the plate behind them and my crankshaft pulley aligned at TDC - that is "0" on the No. 1 (bottom) plastic timing belt cover.

Is this correct?? Or should it be at "5"?? because the manual is unclear on this one to me?

[Apolan]

PS1: How do i pull the diagnostic codes? The service terminal is not where the manual says it is?

PS2: @jonny514mcl, what do you mean by timing? The distributor cap? Im pretty sure its not flipped as the spark plug cords holder is turned upwards..

PS3: and also which terminals should i short to get the timing done? The ones in the yellow connector on the left of the firewall?

[Ivan141]

PS1&3: You're looking for a yellow connector on the left of the firewall (viewed from front) with 2 slots... bridge it and timing will be fixed + ecu will spit codes on the check engine light. Zenki cars dont have a diagnostics terminal like kouki models do..only the yellow plug.

Everything should line up to the markings @TDC, you should also be able to see a dimple in the camshaft beneath the oil fill plug. (yes 0 on the crank pulley should be fine).

Even with ignition order wrong it will sometimes run (like crap).
Did you take care lining the correct marks up on the distributor and keeping the distributor centered in the adjustment holes whilst inserting it into the cylinderhead? A mistake there might throw timing off by a lot.

Also try starting for a bit with the throttle fully opened... sometimes this helps.. just remember to back off again should it decide to start.

[Apolan]

Another day of failure Thanks ivan for the input. Ill try the yellow connector tomorrow.

Yes the timing belt seems fine - i do see that dimple under the oil filler cap. Everything seems to be ok.

Waaait, distributor cap, thats right, i just stuck it in, nbever payed attention to it. Should i align the sprockets in the distributor and on the exhaust camshaft somehow? To be honest i never even thought of it.. Is that what im missing??

Here is a video of it cranking. I cranked it 3 times and as you can see the engine chokes as it almost wants to fire up.

any ideas?