okay guys so i cant figure out for the life of me why this thing wont start. i got an ef with a blown motor from a friend and i picked up another motor from a member on here. i swapped everything out and it still wont start. i took the starter to autozone and it was good. bought a new battery, all the spark plugs are sending spark, its gettin fuel, fireing order is correct, i just cant figure out why its not starting. im thinking maybe timing but haynes says to adjust it you have to start it sooo what do i do?

any help is greatly appreciated

 

Wow. Haynes says to adjust the timing you have to start it?

Please, burn that Haynes manual. If your timing is off and you start it then I hope you feel like ripping the head off and replacing valve(s). That motor is an interference motor and will most definitely get messed up if you try to start it without perfecting the timing first.

Tell you what, where you located?

 

about 3 hours from fredericksburg lol
im in yorktown

well my dad did the timing seeing as hes worked on cars aloooot longer then i have. he said he did it just as the manual says. im just saying it seems like all signs point toward the timing since its getting spark and fuel but still wont start.

im thinking maybe an electrical issue? does anyone know of a place that could hook it up to a diagnostic and check it out in the area that wont bang me in the head?

 

So did the car with the blown engine actually run (except for the engine being blown)? If it ran, and all you've done is replace the engine, there obviously shouldn't be much wrong except for a minor oversight during the engine install or something like that. If whoever you bought the car from was messing with it after the engine blew, you will have to make absolutely sure that you know the condition of everything in that car or else you have no idea what you're actually dealing with.

 

it was blown when i got it. well then i guess the question is, other than the motor and the obvious bolt ons, what else could cause it not to start?

 

Electrical problems, position sensor problems (distributor, etc), many things. Check as much as you can, make sure the grounds are connected and that the timing is mechanically set correctly, spark plug wires are in the correct order, etc.

 

are the spark plug wires in the correct order? post a pic. im inclined to believe that's the reason lol

 

obviously it ran before it was blown, make sure you grounded injector portion of the harness... people seem to miss that

 

i will check that, thank you

 

it also smells like gas, pretty strong, whenever we try to start it. idk if thats bad or if that could help