Car wont start after timing belt.

[truekid]

A relative came over, he was just visiting. He works on german cars in NJ. So after lunch, he and I went out back and I showed him my project. Told him my issue and told him how i went about fixing the problem. He over checked everything I had. And then within an hour told me to loose the distrubutor cap and slightly rotate it while he cranked. AND WALA. it started. So then he checked the cap and rotor. He said they look good but are bad.

Lesson to be learned. Just cause the parts work in the parts car doesnt mean they will work in yours.

Thanks alot for all the help guys. I really appreciated it.

[truekid]

Got the battery tested out and charged at a parts store. Same thing. But i noticed something else.

- Unplug the fuel pump relay , igniton coil plugged up = constant crank speed
- Plug in the fuel pump relay, ignitoin coil disconnected = constant crank speed
- Both connected = speed slowing down and picking up again.

Also I tested for fuel, i jumped the relay. I have fuel going in to the lines, but not sure about the injectors, what is a test for that.

Thanks for keeping the ideas and suggestions coming. It keeps me going. thanks.

[truekid]

Also the battery goes down to 9.8votls when cranking

[truekid]

tried a different coil wire and fully charged battery. Nothing. But the starter smoke a little.

[e30Matt]

I've cranked one before with no cluster. The coil wire problem sounds very possible if you haven't checked it yet. Should be the center terminal in the group of three closer to the radiator.

[truekid]

Thanks.

[truekid]

I pulled the coil wires from the parts car i had, infact the distrubutor cap as well. Cluster is in, OBC is in. i will switch out the distributor cap tom.

[AndrewBird]

I thought the cluster had to be in for the engine to start? Have you put it in and tried it?

[barry]

Check your coil wire make sure its not going to a plug. Also are your wires fairly new? They could be arcing.
Good luck

[truekid]

yea same issue. Cranks enthusiastically without the ignition coil plugged up. Once its plugged up, it cranks good then dies out and pics up again. Ground is good. Could it be a distributor cap, are automatic distributor caps diff then manual ones. Its the same motor in both cars so i would bet they both fire the same.

[truekid]

Ok guys. Just got off work. Ima go mess with it some more. as always thanks for the info. I dont knw where i would be with out this forum and bf.c THANKS.

[SpecM]

If the engine wasn't grounded, it wouldn't crank either. But it couldn't hurt to check

its on the driver's side of the oil pan, to the frame rail

[e30Matt]

I've seen countless ones where there was no pin, only a punch mark. Maybe they were just all missing. :shrug:

[jlevie]

Nevermind. I forgot that you're working on an E, not an I car. On I cars, they have a toothed reference ring on the front crank hub that can very easily be installed incorrectly if you're not careful.

Unless the pin in the crank hub is missing, the harmonic balancer that has the timing ring on it can only be installed one way.

To the OP, your cam timing is correct. Is the battery fully charged?

[e30Matt]

Nevermind. I forgot that you're working on an E, not an I car. On I cars, they have a toothed reference ring on the front crank hub that can very easily be installed incorrectly if you're not careful.