dmitch31
05-31-2007, 05:56 PM
87 LXI
Some of you may have been following my saga in some of the other threads, and here's (hopefully) the last chapter.
My car stopped running right after I began to proceed through an intersection. I had it towed home. I thought perhaps the timing belt had slipped, so I replaced the timing belt.
Turns out the timing belt was a wild goose chase because my old timing belt was fine (no harm getting a new one though). After that, I realized that my distributor was the problem. One of the spring keepers had busted loose inside and the inside of the distributor trashed itself. Fine, so I go get a rebuilt one and put it on.
Problem is I can't get the car to start, and here's what I've verified this evening.
1. I've verified for the 6th time that the timing belt is on right. I get the flywheel exactly square on the TDC mark, and then I took the valve cover off, and both of the marks on the camshaft gear were PERFECTLY lined up with the top of the head.
2. Then I took the cap off of the distributor to confirm that the rotor was pointing to the wire leading to cylinder 1. Sure enough, it was, so that's all good.
3. Using a timing light, I verified that I am indeed getting spark to each plug.
4. I took all of the plugs out and made sure they were extra clean and put them back in.
5. When I took the plugs out, I could smell fuel.
6. When I turn the key, I can hear the fuel pump.
The thing is, when I crank the starter, it's not JUST cranking. You can hear that the engine is really trying to kick over. It's like it's just almost there, but not quite.
Here's where my inexperience gets the best of me, because at this point, I don't know what else to check. I've made sure that everything that I disconnected is hooked back up. Can I get any advice from anyone who has been in this situation before? What can I try to do to get this baby to go ahead and kick over and run?
Thanks.
P.S. More info. The distributor cap and rotor are brand new. When I changed the cap, I moved one wire over at a time so as to make sure that they were put on right. Also, before taking out the plugs, I labeled the end of each spark plug wire 1, 2, 3, and 4, so those aren't mixed up. Tomorrow morning, I'll double check on the distributor cap end to make sure I didn't get anything mixed up there.
Also, the spark plug wires are about a year old and are in great shape. I've made sure that the wires are attached firmly both at the plugs and the distributor cap.
Additionally, I tested the coil per the manual, and it checks out perfectly.
And yes, there is gas in the car.
Some of you may have been following my saga in some of the other threads, and here's (hopefully) the last chapter.
My car stopped running right after I began to proceed through an intersection. I had it towed home. I thought perhaps the timing belt had slipped, so I replaced the timing belt.
Turns out the timing belt was a wild goose chase because my old timing belt was fine (no harm getting a new one though). After that, I realized that my distributor was the problem. One of the spring keepers had busted loose inside and the inside of the distributor trashed itself. Fine, so I go get a rebuilt one and put it on.
Problem is I can't get the car to start, and here's what I've verified this evening.
1. I've verified for the 6th time that the timing belt is on right. I get the flywheel exactly square on the TDC mark, and then I took the valve cover off, and both of the marks on the camshaft gear were PERFECTLY lined up with the top of the head.
2. Then I took the cap off of the distributor to confirm that the rotor was pointing to the wire leading to cylinder 1. Sure enough, it was, so that's all good.
3. Using a timing light, I verified that I am indeed getting spark to each plug.
4. I took all of the plugs out and made sure they were extra clean and put them back in.
5. When I took the plugs out, I could smell fuel.
6. When I turn the key, I can hear the fuel pump.
The thing is, when I crank the starter, it's not JUST cranking. You can hear that the engine is really trying to kick over. It's like it's just almost there, but not quite.
Here's where my inexperience gets the best of me, because at this point, I don't know what else to check. I've made sure that everything that I disconnected is hooked back up. Can I get any advice from anyone who has been in this situation before? What can I try to do to get this baby to go ahead and kick over and run?
Thanks.
P.S. More info. The distributor cap and rotor are brand new. When I changed the cap, I moved one wire over at a time so as to make sure that they were put on right. Also, before taking out the plugs, I labeled the end of each spark plug wire 1, 2, 3, and 4, so those aren't mixed up. Tomorrow morning, I'll double check on the distributor cap end to make sure I didn't get anything mixed up there.
Also, the spark plug wires are about a year old and are in great shape. I've made sure that the wires are attached firmly both at the plugs and the distributor cap.
Additionally, I tested the coil per the manual, and it checks out perfectly.
And yes, there is gas in the car.