After rebuild still having problems..HELP

[Scylence]

I recently bought an 86 4age n/a mr2, it had a blown head gasket. well first i am a mechanic but this car has really got me stumped. I changed the head gasket, timing belt, both serp belts, altenator and did an oil change. I got it all back together (i think..lol) and had a small timing issue. got that worked out and it crunk, ran good with a slight skip like just bad plugs, shut it off, 5 mins later it wont crank. i have checked my timing over and over, reset the distributor and the engine to TDC several times, my piston is at TDC, i can see the dimple on the intake cam and my timing marks line up, set the distibutor at TDC, it still wont crank. it is getting spark (popped me a couple times to). i thought it was maybe old fuel, but it ran on it, had 1/4 tank so i filled it up with new gas, still wont crank its like it wants to but just keeps turning over.
i am at my wits end on this, any help would be great, thnx.

[NightRider88]

still wont crank its like it wants to but just keeps turning over.

you mean it crank but it won't start ?

if yes, make sure your plug cables are not mixed up and that your battery is good, you can try to jumpstart it.

[Mista 2]

have you tried roll starting it?

[listdadt]

mine did that...number 2 piston was blown up...ring landings broke off and the piston face had a chunk out of it.

[Scylence]

The engine spins over fine, kinda makes a plomp,plomp,plomp sound and i can see little puffs of smoke. and i cant roll start it its an auto. plug wires not mixed up, and my pistons are fine. car only has 100k on the odo.but anyways i think i figured it out, i think that the exhaust cam has jumped time, by a couple teeth on the belt, i'm gonna check that out,tomorrow. working on diesels all day makes ya tired. but any more input is apprieciated, thnx. i'll keep u guys posted.

[Scylence]

i checked the timing everything looks fine still not cranking though

[listdadt]

before you beat your head against the wall any more, compression test the motor. if your compression test results are low, do a leak down test.

The Mitchell Repair computerized repair manual that the Toyota dealership uses specs compression on a 4AGE (N/A 1.6) as 178PSI normal compression, and a minimum compression of 128PSI. You also should not have a variation of more than 14PSI between cylinders.

You should probably also check your valve clearances should be .008" on the intake side, and .012" on the exhaust side.

[AustinTxMR2]

Originally Posted by Scylence

i checked the timing everything looks fine still not cranking though

It helps to use the correct terms. If it cranks, than the starter motor is turning the engine. If it won't fire and run....that means it won't start.

As a quick test to determine fuel delivery, I use starting fluid and test to see it the engine will fire and run (even for an instant) off of that. Have you pulled the spark plugs to see if they fire and are wet? John

[Scylence]

the plugs get wet (with gas) the spark is defintly fine, the timing "seems to be right i checked and double checked and reset a couple times but it wont start even with starting fluid, thing is it crunk up twice since i rebuilt it, and ran with a slight skip, until i shut it off, it just wont "start" and the engine spins over just fine, i haven't messed with it in a week cause i'm so frustrated with it.

[motwister]

Hola.

I recently bought a 95 4runner (I have previously owned a 90 corolla and still own a 90 camry).
If you can imagine this, one month after buying it, the head gasket has blown.

I'm not at all shocked, I know they have timing belt and Head gasket problems.

I'm about to dig into this project tonight or tommorow morning, however I dont know if its ever been replaced. If it hasn't, would it still be under warranty?
This would save me alot of $$ and time that I really dont have or want to spend.

Yeah, the truck is 12 years old. But if its never been replaced, would it still be under the TSB toyota sent out?

Just curious.

[listdadt]

first of all...wrong forum, second, that should have been a new thread, third, no one has a 12 year warranty. TSB's will not be covered under warranty unless a part actually fails while the car is under warranty. Only factory recalls are replaced under warranty regardless of whether your vehicle has had a problem yet or not.

[petedynamics]

I'm having the same
EXACT problem, can ANYONE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I even shot a video YouTube - MR2 troubleshootin

[sliverstorm]

I don't understand how you could check timing when it won't start; you can't time it until it starts. Try starting it with various positions of the dizzy; you'll probably have better luck getting it to run by rotating the dizzy towards the right side of the car (advanced) than towards the left. You might induce pinging but if it starts you can figure it out from there.

[sliverstorm]

update, I rebulit my dizzy and had the following problems:
#1: make sure your wires are on the right places
Left side of car 4 3 2 1 Right side of car
As for dizzy, each pin is labeled- just make sure 1 goes to 1, 2 to 2, etc.
#2: try pulling dizzy and rotating the shaft 180 degrees; My sparks were firing on the exhaust stroke and that fixed it
#3: rotate the dizzy all over, left, right, etc. and try starting each time. It should catch if it's good; mine didn't catch but I could hear it wanting to start so I retarded the timing and tried, stomped the gas pedal and it roared to life, fixed timing from there. If you put it in perfect, it should run good right in the middle; mine I had to turn all the way left and it was still BTDC like 22 degrees :P

P.S. don't just keep cranking it. I had a cloud of gas vapor in the air when mine finally started, and the smell was in the air from the first time it failed to burn. That stuff is toxic :P
P.P.S. try looking at a dizzy rebuild thread to make sure you're putting the dizzy in right?

[petedynamics]

ill give it a shot tommorow

[4v6]

Deffo a timing issue judging from that vid, it almost stops cranking as it tries to fire back.

[petedynamics]

tried it, it doesnt START!!!! i checked ALLLLL FUSES AM2, ING, thelast thing I thinkit is, is the ECU, but before it worked!!!!!! which is oddd!!

[sliverstorm]

Just had a miserable time on the side of a freeway :P After repairing distributor, I put it back in not quite right. I couldn't retard far enough but figured I'd leave it be until I had the proper tools. Well, while going over a mountain I suddenly realized... Oh my god that sound has to be pinging So I pull over and as soon as I step on the clutch, needle drops to 800... and boom it dies; it only ran before because it was stable at the warmup tempratures of 2k and 1.5k. So I had to pull out the hot toasty distributor and rotate the shaft tooth by tooth trying to get the right mesh up (I only had a 12mm socket and a timing light. Couldn't set to TDC w/ out a way to either remove spark plugs or turn crank forcibly) The procedure: pull dizzy carefully, rotate shaft one tooth to the LEFT if I thought it needed more advance, RIGHT if it needed more retard. (this is while looking at the bottom of the dizzy w/ the gear in my face). Then stick it back in (CAREFULLY!) and try again. Rotate dizzy body through the steps (all the way left, all the way right, and middle) and if it doesn't start each time, pull it and rotate gear again. How could I tell? Well, I find that over advanced and there is a lot of gas smell in the air. Over retarded and it feels like I can get it to run if I step on the gas (and indeed I did get it running at one point at about 500rpm w/ my foot on the gas, but it died right after I took my foot off) So, if you think this iz your problem, set it to TDC, reinstall distributor according to a guide, and give it a shot. I was really lucky, I got it working on try 3. Just for the record it's very much a shot in the dark cause the shaft can rotate easily while you are putting the dizzy back in. And the scalding metal screws and housing didn't really help! Sorry for the long post
P.S. the first time I had dizzy problems I put it in 180 degrees backwards :P