I spent the last few weekends replacing a blown head gasket. I even took time to clean everything up and make it look decent. Now that everything is bolted back up I cant get it to start. It just spins but no fire. I am guessing :

A) no spark

B) no fuel

How can i verify which it is, and what could be causing it? I double check all the wiring and everything is connected.

 

are all your sensors plugged in? sounds like something electrically related to me.

 

You can yank out a spark plug and see if its firing off (the #1 should be the easiest to take out). You can listen to the injectors to see if they are firing (this isnt 100% that you have fuel, but if you have fuel pressure then it is).

"What could be causing this?" - Basically you've pretty much touch/****ed with everything on the engine and now it wont crank....thus it could be just about anything. Other then maybe a blown fuse (have you checked them?) then Im willing to bet its something you touched, thus you need to double check everything you did.

 

well i pulled spark plug # 1 out and it is not firing.. so ill start to back track from there..

 

any breakthroughs yet?

 

you have to be more specific, is it cranking? if so, check the timing!!!!

 

are your cams in time with the crank?

 

Check the timing, make sure you put in the Distributor right so that it sparks the right piston on the right stroke. If you're off by one notch then it won't start. Check the repair manual and it shows you how to line it up right. This was the problem I had.

Also, make sure the wire from the distributor is connected to where its supposed to go on the car...(did this one too lol)

 

This sounds like the problem. I didnt realize i had to adjust the distributor Will give it a shot tonight and report back.

 

OK.. I am making some progress. I finally got some time to play with it and reinstalled the distributor and it fired up fine. The idle seems a bit hight ~2k rpm, but i had that problem before the head gasket problem. Let it run for a bit and all seemed ok. I fired it up a few times just to check things. Finally I decided to adjust the throttle position sensor to see if that fixed the high idle, but it started making this high pitched whistle/whining sound. It seems to be coming from the intake manifold near the throttle position sensor. The sound is really loud and it is really hard to tell what is causing it. I put the TPS back to where it was and the sound is still there.

Any ideas?

 

Make sure all the gaskets and everything in the TB didn't get severly bent and are causing any air-leaks. Make sure the bolts on the bottom of the TB (not just the bracket) are mounted and tight as well. This can cause that high-pitched noise as well. Let the car warm-up, an then turn the AC off and adjust the idle to between 650 and 750 (MT) or 750-850 (AT), I belive those numbers are about right. Your rpms will jump 50-200 when you turn the AC on so don't adjust it if there is any kind of pull on the engine (electrical as well)

 

This sounds exactly like something I encoutered. The culprit was Idle Control Valve that's on that throttle body piece. easy fix /