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I have a 91 Ls400 that's been sitting in garage for 2-3 years. I did recently change the timing belt, water pump, crank and cam seals myself and made sure I put everything back correctly. Before the car did start up, but now it will crank but the engine won't turn over. My first thought was it might be something with the ignition, i.e ignition coil, crank or cam sensor, or even fuel pump.
The gas tank was empty so put in 5 gallons of premium gas. Could it be the distributor rotors? Do they go on a certain way? That what I will check first. But in mean time any suggestions is appreciated.
YEs it could be rotors as they have to go on a certain way. There is a conductive end that meets a spark point which is sent through the leads to the plugs, so this could be the issue. It could also be the fuel pump. Make sure your fuel pump is priming, if you arent sure you may need to remove the rear seat to check.
Ok so on my way to get to the distributor rotors, I found this. Looks like left hand Cam sensor wire cable might be damage. What you guys think? I'm definitely going to replace it tho.
LH Cam sensor, notice the exposed wires. Here's the RH Cam sensor, notice NO exposed wires
Not sure if that exposed wire is your problem but it should be addressed anyway. The wire for the RH cam sensor shouldn't be near that pulley. Hope you put it back together where it's supposed to go so it doesn't get cut. I would definately check the rotors b/c alot of people have put them in 180* off. I don't understand how b/c there is a notch and a tab so they fit right. But, **it happens.
Ok here are some pictures of the rotors currently installed. I'm thinking the RH rotor might 180 degrees off.
LH rotor RH rotor, mabey the culprit.. Here's both This pic is for comparison, it's from lexls.com
Notice how his are installed compared to mines.
Both engines are lined up at TDC as well Cam and crank marks.
Edited 10:23 am 10/1/17
After comparing pics , I am convinced that both my rotors are 180 degrees off
Edited 1:31 pm 10/1/17
Well I adjusted the rotors to match lexls.com and still no start. I will still replace the left cam sensor but I'm lost, I hope it's not fuel pump. Could fuel injectors be clogged from sitting too long?
Crank and won't turn over? A conflicting statement. Crank means is does turn over. You really meant to say it will not start or fire.
You said before it would start??????? You mean before is sat for a long time?????
So then it did run after all the timing belt stuff then?
Did you ever check for spark?
Last edited by dicer; 10-02-17 at 12:35 AM.
Reason: of was supposed to be or..........
Crank and won't turn over? A conflicting statement. Crank means is does turn over. You really meant to say it will not start of fire.
You said before it would start??????? You mean before is sat for a long time?????
So then it did run after all the timing belt stuff then?
Did you ever check for spark?
Ok, I might have worded it wrong. The engine sounds like it wants to crank but it won't, sounds like it's not catching spark or fire at all. The car been sitting since 2012. In 2015 or early 16 I crank it up to back it up in garage and I did, now earlier this year I decided to do the TB job myself and I completed it but never tried to start the engine until now. It's my back up car so I wasn't in a rush. Well now I have 2 other cars I drive and i really want to fix this one up so I can sell it. Only thing that was wrong it was leaking a lot of oil from the crank seal, so I went ahead and replaced everything with OEM parts. Hope that makes sense now.
And no the car haven't started since I did the TB job.
BTW how do you check for spark?? I really believe the engine is not catching spark or fire like you mentioned.
If it won't crank then the starter is no good or the engine is locked up. When you say it won't crank, means nothing on the engine will turn when you turn your key to start it.
In the old days they used a hand crank to "crank" the engine which means to turn the crank shaft (they did not have electric starters then). So failure of it to not crank means the crank shaft will not turn when you energize the starter motor. If the motor just goes buzzzzzz then likely its not cranking. If the sound is the normal Tirrrrr rear rear rear, then it usually means the starter is "cranking" the engine, if the starter just goes clunk then the engine could be locked up or the battery is just too low, or the solenoid is not contacting good. So till we get this figured out I don't know what to say.
Sounds like it is cranking, but not firing. If it wasnt cranking you wouldnt want to know how to check for a spark. As for rotor change on lexls, im pretty sure someone else here followed them and it lead them to putting on a rotor 180 off
The starter is definitely engaging the engine. The engine can't be locked up, I just changed the oil, plus I can rotate the engine by hand to line up timing marks. The battery is brand new with a sticker says 5/17. According to one poster on here recently, lexls site lead him to have his rotors 180 degrees off, so now I'm not sure which way the rotors go. I know for sure a bad crank sensor will stop the engine from cranking up. Something is not catching spark or fire and I'm not sure it's the rotors, coil packs, fuel pump, or that damage cam sensor.
Im gonna order the cam sensor from Rock Auto and update what happens. The gas is pretty low, like almost on empty, should I add another 4-5 gallons of gas?
According to one poster on here recently, lexls site lead him to have his rotors 180 degrees off, so now I'm not sure which way the rotors go.
The rotors in the pic on lexls are right. All timing marks are lined up and those rotors are the ones he was taking off, not putting on. I've done 3 T-belt jobs and the rotors always went the same way with no problems. All of my rotors had a tab on the back of them which fit into a notch on the cam pulley.
09-30-17, 04:26 AM
91 Ls400 will crank but won't start up
But, **it happens.
