cghag1 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Hello folks. First post on this forum and I'm hoping someone can help. I have a '96 Legacy L wagon with the 2.2L and an automatic transmission. After putting it off for far too long I tackled replacement of the rear main seal. I also replaced the front crank and cam seals and timing belt while I was at it. I put everything back together and lined up the timing marks as instructed in my Haynes manual. The car cranks but will not fire. I checked all the electrical connections and the grounds and found nothing out of the ordinary. I thought maybe I screwed up the timing belt installation so I pulled off the front covers only to see the three marks all line up as they should. I'm stumped since the car ran perfectly before I did this work. My repair manual mentions making sure cylinder #1 is at TDC in the compression stroke. I misplaced my compression tester so how do I confirm proper TDC? Doesn't the proper alignment of the three timing marks assure the crank and two cams are where they should be? Is there something else I'm missing here? I'm open to all thoughts and suggestions. Thanks in advance. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osei Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Your book should have a plan for doing valve lash adjustment. In this it tells when 1 is at tdc, valve XXX is on compression/ or exhaust. If you're positive you're not off by 180 deg. then you can use a pencil with eraser(or some other non metallic item) in the spark plug hole to feel when it is at the top of the stroke. Then you can check which valves are supposed to be where to help verify. There may be some help in www.endwrench.com , for they have a lot of archive stuff on the 2.2. Check the overhaul section on the 2.2. it may help. Osei Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cghag1 Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks Osei. I'll try the pencil trick to verify piston position. I guess I should have thought to check vavle position when I had the covers off to replace the gaskets! I wondered about the possibility of being off by 180 degrees but I'm sure I have the three timing marks all at the top of their repective rotations. Since I had the air duct off to perform some of the work on the car I'm wondering if I missed a hose connection. Could a vacuum leak cause a no-start condition? The duct is back in place, but maybe I missed one of the smaller related hoses? Thanks for the link to endwrench.com. I'll look through that and see if anything relevent pops up. Any other thoughts anybody?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 How did you replace the rear main seal? By pulling the engine or transmission? If you pulled the engine, make sure you reconnected things like engine wiring harnesses, grounds, fuel lines (in the correct places). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cghag1 Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 I pulled the tranny to replace that seal. The other work (front seals, gaskets, belts) was performed with the engine in the car. I will admit that I missed the small ground strap that ran from the tranny to the body near the pitch stopper. I only saw the large ground strap at the starter bolt. Oops! But frankly that was an easy repair and was reinstalled when everything went back together. My first thought was a screwed up the timing belt installation. Now I'm thinking I have missed some other connection, but I'll be darned if I can see anything out of place or not connected. Maybe I accidentally disconnected something when I ran small chains around the intake manifold to use my engine support bar!? (I didn't know what else to use as lift points) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cghag1 Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 I'm stumped with this situation. I have the timing set correctly. I checked spark at the #1 cylinder and it is present. I checked fuel pressure before the fuel rail (approx. 50 psi) and after the fuel rail/ pressure regulator (approx. 35 psi) which seems adequate. I checked resistance at all 4 injectors (10.8 ohms all the way around). I hooked up a test LED to the injector wires to the #1 cylinder and have a signal when cranking. What am I missing? The car cranks but will not fire. The battery reads 12.4V-12.5V so that shouldn't be an issue as far as cranking speed is concerned. I do have one other question that I need confirmation on. With some of my testing I have disconnected the leads to the starter and hooked up a remote starter switch. If I have the key turned to the "ON" position and use the remote starter switch to crank the car it should fire right up if everything else is in order, shouldn't it? I want to make sure that the car is receiving all the proper signals. For what it's worth - it still wont start when I reconnect the starter wires and use the key to try the car. Any suggestions are appreciated. I'm off work tommorrow and I need a new plan of attack at this stage. Thanks in advance, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osei Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Sorry to hear that its not doing right. Recheck your fuses. I am stumped also. It's maddening when you've done so much work and all is not well. O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cghag1 Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 It's maddening when you've done so much work and all is not well. Maddening? That's being polite! I can think of several other words to describe my mood at this point. None fit for this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osei Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 make sure all of your vacuum lines are attached. Especially look under the throttle body. Just read another thread with a no start issue and this what it turned out to be. I have my fingers crossed. O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cghag1 Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 Thanks. I don't work today so hopefully I'll finally find the issue when I dig back into the car. I also drive an old VW Cabriolet and vacuum issues are rather common to causing issues with that car. Maybe it will be that easy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airdevil85 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 did you ever get you car figured out??? mine is a nostart after a new transmission... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Check the ignition with a spark tester. Their inexpensive and very valuable when diagnosing a no start issue. You can get them at any auto parts store. Or you can do it the old fashioned way and remove a spark plug wire then placing or holding it about 1/8" away from a metallic ground. Make sure the ground you choose is far away from fuel lines. Also make sure your hands are not in the way of the wire or near the ground. Have a buddy start the car and check to see if a small arc (Spark) travels intermittently from the end of the wire to the ground. If no spark occurs, there's no spark. If you suspect a weak spark, hold the wire closer. If you only get a spark with the wire extremely close to the ground, you've got a weak spark. I don't think this is the case however, since the car doesn't seem to pop or even try to fire. What about a cam position sensor? Are those all hooked up and functional? I'd check that then move on to the rest of the harness you disconnected to replace the seals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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