I've been lurking and reading up on this issue but so far it's only led me to the end of my knowledge. I therefore call upon the ancient wisdom of the forum for help.
First some history - I had rehabbed the car about a year ago and my daughter in college had been driving it. She is not a "car person"- and she blissfully drove it while it was overheating (hole in heater hose) - to the point where the plastic timing belt covers, spark plug o-rings, valve cover gasket all melted down like Fukushima. I mean, that stuff literally melted and ran and got tangled in the timing gear when it re-solidified. It sounded like an old-school bicycle with baseball cards in the spokes. So stop laughing. Anyway, I replaced all that stuff - along with all the belts, all cooling hoses, and the radiator. [fyi there's no evidence of oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil...so I assumed the head was still ok]
Afterwards, it started right up like a champ and ran fine. I did not re-set the idle, since it seemed fine. Over the next week, it started to be a bit more cold-blooded and when it would start it would idle terribly, like it was on 3 cylinders...after 30 seconds it would smooth out and be fine. (the weather here has been like 70f-80f).
3 days ago, I drove it down to the pick-n-pull to grab some trim pieces...it ran fine on the highway - we did 75-80 all the way down with no issues. When I tried to re-start- it cranked fine, and tried to catch, but will not fully catch and run.
I don't like to shotgun parts but I had some stuff I had previously bought "just in case" that I decided to install...you know, just in case. So at this point, this is what I have checked/done;
>I could hear the fuel pump run when I first turned the key
>replaced the fuel pump master relay anyway
>checked the fuel pressure at the rail; 29psi when it "primes" - about 40psi when it's cranking
>spark plugs are drenched in gas after starting attempts (I guess that's to be expected since it's not starting?)
>I get a nice bright spark @ all the plugs
>I suspected maybe the timing belt got loose and jumped a couple of teeth so I checked the timing marks - with the dizzy pointed to #1, the pointers are right on the mark with the white paint (see pic). I also had a wood dowel down the #1 cyl hole and verified it was at the top of the stroke at this position.
Both the dizzy and coil are relatively new.
So...there you have it. I have fuel, I have spark, and I think the timing is close enough to where it should at least start. Any ideas for a next step?
First some history - I had rehabbed the car about a year ago and my daughter in college had been driving it. She is not a "car person"- and she blissfully drove it while it was overheating (hole in heater hose) - to the point where the plastic timing belt covers, spark plug o-rings, valve cover gasket all melted down like Fukushima. I mean, that stuff literally melted and ran and got tangled in the timing gear when it re-solidified. It sounded like an old-school bicycle with baseball cards in the spokes. So stop laughing. Anyway, I replaced all that stuff - along with all the belts, all cooling hoses, and the radiator. [fyi there's no evidence of oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil...so I assumed the head was still ok]
Afterwards, it started right up like a champ and ran fine. I did not re-set the idle, since it seemed fine. Over the next week, it started to be a bit more cold-blooded and when it would start it would idle terribly, like it was on 3 cylinders...after 30 seconds it would smooth out and be fine. (the weather here has been like 70f-80f).
3 days ago, I drove it down to the pick-n-pull to grab some trim pieces...it ran fine on the highway - we did 75-80 all the way down with no issues. When I tried to re-start- it cranked fine, and tried to catch, but will not fully catch and run.
I don't like to shotgun parts but I had some stuff I had previously bought "just in case" that I decided to install...you know, just in case. So at this point, this is what I have checked/done;
>I could hear the fuel pump run when I first turned the key
>replaced the fuel pump master relay anyway
>checked the fuel pressure at the rail; 29psi when it "primes" - about 40psi when it's cranking
>spark plugs are drenched in gas after starting attempts (I guess that's to be expected since it's not starting?)
>I get a nice bright spark @ all the plugs
>I suspected maybe the timing belt got loose and jumped a couple of teeth so I checked the timing marks - with the dizzy pointed to #1, the pointers are right on the mark with the white paint (see pic). I also had a wood dowel down the #1 cyl hole and verified it was at the top of the stroke at this position.
Both the dizzy and coil are relatively new.
So...there you have it. I have fuel, I have spark, and I think the timing is close enough to where it should at least start. Any ideas for a next step?
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