crash511

Brief history of project: I swapped out the original 3.0L VZE when it seized up at 145k miles. Put in a 95 3.0L VZE. Put in a new water pump, idle arm pulley, tensioner, plugs, wires, etc. I had some minor trouble here and there initially: neutral safety switch and the vafm being the biggest pain.. Once the motor was in and running, was getting a few CELs for VAFM / knock sensor / 02 sensor.. During the swap, the VAFM plug came out, with the pins. Apparently it is a common mistake to unscrew the mounting screws. Was able to test the VAFM and 'rewire' it. Good as used.

After improperly diagnosing a bad knock sensor, swapped it out, then realized it was just a grounding issue. The ground wire had been compromised at some point. Fixed that, ran well enough. Still have not swapped 02 sensor on account of the bolts will most likely break.. and it seems to be ok now. Seems.

Soon after, it began idling rough. So she sat for a bit until I could get more time devoted to it. Would start it here and there to keep it going though. Took it out during our snow: started up and ran fine. Then it didn't. It began to idle very rough to the point of it almost cutting out. would appear to run fine under load. But not at idle. However, she still ran.

Now, she will not even start. Turn and turn and turn.. but will not catch. Replaced the fuel filter as it needed it anyways. Can smell an abundance of fuel, so it would seem that I have proper fuel flow. Pulled out a couple of plugs one at a time to look for spark.. did not appear to be any. Checked the ignition coil, a buddy found a thread on how to test it, followed the steps the best we could.. I decided to swap out the coil to ultimately rule it out. Just did, no dice.

Would appear that my problem is either with the distributor cap or rotor. Going to try and swap them tonight or tomorrow, but figured I would put out a feeler to see if anyone else had any ideas.

Current CEL is 25

Any help would be great.

Thanks

crash511

just swapped the distributor from the old motor.... still.... no dice

crash511

Update: I have spark from the coil into the cap. I know this as I held the coil wire just out of the cap and had someone turn the key. Spark at coil and cap. I don't seem to have spark from the cap out. Going to clean up old rotor and swap it.

Cyberman

Timing belt okay?
With the cap off, does the rotor turn?

crash511

I have a concern for the actual timing. However, it is a new timing belt. We had a hard time setting it originally. Got it after a while. When I pulled off the intake to swap the knock sensor, the timing may have jumped a tooth. It did not seem like it. But possible. Swapping rotor now. And will check for rotation before checking for spark. It feels like it is turning, but could be motor vibrations.

crash511

Swapped back in the original rotor after cleaning it up. Rotor turns and still, no spark. Timing belt inspection will have to wait until the morning. But I would have assumed that even if the timing was off a few teeth, it would have at least started and then run rough or shut off again.

crazytexan

iTrader: (1)

spark to cap, but no spark to the plugs? any change the wires are damages? To much dielectric grease? I had a hell of a time stabbing distributors perfect. Id start with ensuring spark to the plugs, if you get it, then i'd look at turning distributor by hand while someone cranks see if you can get it to come to life.

crash511

Plug wires are new. At least new to the motor swap. I pulled the number 5 and 1 plug wires and checked for spark at the cap to wire. No spark. I was able to get it started once by turning the distributor completely to the right. Ran rough but ran. Cut out once I dialed it back. Have not been able to reproduce it.

crazytexan

iTrader: (1)

I had that as well once. I was a tooth off on the distributor. I had to rotate the cam just ever so slightly to get it to stab properly. It was also a new driver head and cam so thats another reason I assumed It stabbed wrong. It was definatly off from where it was originally with the new head. I'd have a hard time thinking magically one day your Dist jumps off a tooth, but worth a shot to try, just one bolt. I think it rotates CCW too btw dont forget.

Gevo

Wow.. if you re getting spark TO the cap and not distributing to the plugs.. that means every single time the computer is sending a spark for every cylinder the distributor rotor is in free space and not making contact with any tips. Are you getting an occasional firing of atleast one ore two cylinders perhaps? I think your distributor is the problem. Remove, inspect, visually and re install as per the FSM instructions. It seems to be in spec since you are getting spark.

Also, a misaligned distributor would explain why you get it to come alive sometimes when you turn the distributor way to one end. Now as suggested above, turn it all the way to both sides and crank.. I would imagine it should be enough to get spark to a few cylinders at least and you will hear the engine fire a few times.. may start, may not..

crash511

I am going to try turning the distributor again today to see if I can get her to fire up. As far as I can tell, there is no spark at all. Going to try advancing it and retarding it to see if it generates a spark here or there. Would make sense that the rotor is n the free area during signal. What would cause the distributor to become misaligned? I am guessing that an 'off' timing belt may cause this? Going out to start plugging away.. updates as I go.

Thanks again for the help guys!!

crash511

Cleaned up distributor cap and rotor contact. Even swapped original distributor back in (the one that came with this motor). However, I think that the distributor is now off per TDC. So, now to realign the distributor properly with TDC of plug 1. Still, spark to cap. No spark to plugs. At any timing positioning.

Gamefreakgc

The fact that you could turn the distributor all the way and got it to ran means your timing is way off. Either it jumped a tooth like you were saying or the distributor itself is off (or maybe even 180* off?). I think there lies your problem.


Also, buy a timing light so the next time it fires up you can check the timing. Be sure to jump TE1 and E1 on the diagnostic port with a paperclip before checking timing. Stock is 10*.