Originally Posted by stickmanmitch

OK 22re guru's, I need your help.

I've been creeping here for a while but this is my first post. I have a '88 4x4 truck with 240xxx miles I bought over the summer. Ran fine for a while, had trouble on cold starts and would stall out if I drove through water too fast, and would get around 17 mpg. I ended up getting a bad knock so parked it until I got it fixed(happened about september). Before I took anything out, I did a compression test (cold) and was getting super low numbers (30-70) with a wide range between each cylinder. After adding oil though the spark plug holes, highest compression was around 120. Deciding to pull the engine after that, I found the source of the knock was a nut that fell off a rod bearing cap destroying the rod. I ended up getting the block bored 1mm over, replaced pistons, one new rod, the others refurbished, replaced the crank and had it polished, new main and rod bearings. I'm confident the internals and timing are put together correctly to the the FSM specs.

The engine is put back in and everything hooked back up, but the engine still won't run and I have no idea why. Closest I've got was holding the AFM open and holding the gas pedal to the floor, but was super rough like it wasn't firing right or missing then died when I let off the gas. I've had it backfire and cough while playing with the timing. I don't know what to do and need to get it running agin before school starts.

So far, I've tested/changed:

-the fuel filter, I know it's getting pressure so not the fuel pump
-measured the resistance across the cold start injector, tested good
-tested the AFM the same way (to the FSM)
-put in brand new spark plugs and ignition wires
-checked all the fuses
-won't start with starting fluid
-pulled out all the spark plugs and grounded them to the block, they all fire right
-put a squirt of oil in each cylinder and tried again
-made sure the timing mark on at TDC matched the distributor and the camshaft
-all the sensors but one black one near the throttle body are plugged in, I can't find it's home
-checked the PCV, it's clean and works like it's supposed to
-all the vacuum hoses were double checked
-a full tank of new gas was put in in september
-i can smell gas on the spark plugs and out the exhaust
-the ground on the motor mount is on the frame side


Other ideas I have are
-checking the valve lashing, but never took the rocker assembly apart so I don't know why it would be off
-I read the 60 amp fuse could be bad on the bottom but I wasn't able to pull it out and it looks fine from on top
-I haven't checked the compression since the rebuild
-I read there should be a ground on the intake manifold, but have one connected to the valve cover, does this need to be moved?
-there's a hose near the charcoal canister coming from the firewall about 1/2" OD that I can't figure out where it goes
-when we were adjusting the timing trying to get it to start sometimes we would pull the distributor cap off and the rotor would be 180* opposite of where it was supposed to be, is that normal or is the rotor jumping around? Do I not understand something?


I'll add anything I've missed, or please correct me if I missed something. I'm really hoping to get my truck running again soon. I learned a lot from reading old posts from you guys.

Originally Posted by stickmanmitch

Originally Posted by stickmanmitch

This is the unplugged plug (the green one right by the valve cover bolt). I've tried switching it with a black one that has the same shape with no luck. I'm thinking now there was residual carbon on the heads that's preventing the valves from closing all the way, or hot spots on the pistons are causing predetonation. I'm going to try adding octane booster to the gas today and checking the knock sensor connections. Hopefully it changes something.