Alright so I got a 1993 Toyota pickup with the 3vze and tore it down to the block and put all new gaskets and such on it. I set the timing marks and everything it says in the Haynes manual but now it won’t start. It shot a foot long flame out of the throttle body and after that I haven’t touched it. I have read some other forums and still no luck. Could it be 180 degrees off? And do I have to in hook the ECU?

 

Sounds like timing is off, be it belt, cam, distri.

 

Did it blow the air intake pipe off the throttle body ??

Timing or bad intake valve or valves

 

bet that scared yah, and made you angry.
dont give up. come back to it with a fresh mind. yes u could be 180 degrees off, not on the cam, but on the crankshaft. because remember one full turn of the crank is half a turn of the cam. so if u had the cam off, exactly 180 degrees it wouldnt matter because 180 degrees later it would be perfect. so juat check ur crankshaft marks. be sure u used the correct lineup points.

 

So I read
1. Set the crank to 0°/TDC
2. Remove the distributor
3. Rotate the crank CLOCKWISE 1 FULL rotation/360°
4. Reinstall the distributor
5. Start the engine
I did that and the cam marks are on the bottom when the crank is on 0 degrees

 

 

Shouldn't the cam marks be on top when the crank is at 0? Sorry if this is wrong, but that's how it is on my '97 4Runner.

Edit: I now remembered that what Thommo said was right, the cam can be off 180 and another turn of the crank will have it back up. Just make sure your belt is nice and tight, and the arrows or marks on your belt correspond to the dimples on your cams & crank. It can be a pain in the neck to get the belt exactly where it needs to be.

 

im ignoring your mention of the distributor process coz its nothing to do with what we are trying to resolve here.
it mentions nothing about aligning the distrubutor so if u have done that, its probably randomly sparking at a some wrong time.
i havent worked on this motor but that cam position looks fine as its about 180 from the top. turn it over and get all timin marks lined up.
https://ww2-secure.justanswer.com/up..._mark_0000.jpg
if u have this setup continue on to installing the dizzy at cylinder one firing.
see the 3 images this guy put up showing the lineup of the distributor when the timing marks are aligned. notice his dizzy points slightly anticlockwise from the black bit. enaure urs is inatalled like that when its pully pushed in. remember the gear is curved so u have to try a few times to get it lined up.

 

With the timing mark at zero both cam dots need to be at the top and #1 needs to be at TDC. Once you get there rotate the crank 2 revolutions and the crank should be back at zero with cam dots at the top. Now you can install the distributor with the rotor pointed at #1. Set the distributor timing at 0 on the distributor mark. You will still need to adjust the timing once it's running but if you did everything right it will start.

I just did headgaskets a few weeks ago so this is pretty fresh in my mind.

Good luck!

 

This really helped me understand

 

Alright so I finally got around to working on it. Come to find out I had some valves stuck open. Got that fixed and went to fire it up and no more backfire but still won’t start. Spent a couple hours working on timing and got it to the point where it will try and try and try and then just crank with nothing. I went through the vacuum hoses with a diagram and am pretty sure they are all right and spark plugs and wires are new. It fire off but won’t actually run

 

do u have access to a compression tester. i just want to confirm that it is indeed compressing and that the cam and crank loves arent still worng.

 

Make sure that you have the air intake tube installed. The AFM turns on fuel pump when air is sensed moving past.

 

that could be the issue!!!

 

I put the air intake back on. Still didn’t start but sounded more like it wanted to. I’m thinking the timing needs to be messed with now but am probably going to be taking it to a shop for that since I don’t have enough experience with timing

 

i recon u had the timing spot on, unless the dizzy was off
Q1. When you sayu u tore it down to the block, did you do any valve work?
Q2. was it running before you tore it apart? Perhaps the valves were always just jamming and they sold it to u to make it your problem.

 

When I put it back together some of the valves were stuck. I got them to come back up and I piled them and let them sit and they moved freely. I put the cans back on and spun them multiple times to make sure there was no more sticky valves. And I do not know if it was running before. A kid bought it how it was and didn’t know what to do with it so I got it

 

ok how well is the motor cranking?
do u have any idea if the battery is ok?

 

Alright! Finally got around to working on the yota. Got to irritated at it and come to find out my valves were still stuck open. I bought a 2 year old rebuilt 3.0 out of a 1994 from a buddy from work got it out in and started it up! Just want to say thanks to all who replied and helped me out!