ok i'll go down the list of what i did..

 

pulled the 87+ intake off

put on my 86 intake

changed a couple fuel injectors (some were cracked)

resealed the water pump

resealed the oil pan

changed the t-belts

put on my wagons old turbo (no shaft play)

put on my Accell 8mm spiral core wires

bought a new accell 8140 coil

new plugs

new cap

replaced all coolant lines and vacuum lines with OE line molded at the right bends. (i pulled one off put the new one in, one at a time)

 

flywheel (lightented by skip) clutch and PP are new from the dealer

put the engine in the car, brought it to TDC put in the disty, and whala, i get a engine running on #1 and #2.. thats it..

 

 

now the list of what i've done..

 

tore the timing down twice and quadruple checked it.. also scrapdaddy tatum checked it too to make sure the t-belts were set properly.. (they are)

 

i've swapped injectors

checked for ecu codes (none)

unbolted the exhaust after the DP (now it will idle on 2 cylinders)

checked all my connections (all good)

verified all vacuu mlines are hooked up as they should be (yes)

swapped injector wires to make sure the harness is working (yes it is)

made sure the plug wires are on the right cylinder and the fireing order is correct (1-3-2-4)

did a compression check (123-130 all the way around)

made sure its getting spark (enough juice to go through one arm and out the other.. along with nice blue spark with the new coil)

after i got frustrated, i pulled the disty and put it in every tooth, just to make sure.. didn't help..

 

 

the car will sit there and idle all day long on 2 cylinders.. hell in 4 low i can drive it around the yard.. but thats about it..

 

at this point, i have to swap the disty, swap the maf..

 

all the parts that i used on this car (sensors, wireing, intake) all came off the old engine, which ran fine besides the blown HG. so i have no reason to believe they have some thing wrong with them.. i ran the old engine before pullin the motor out...

 

 

plugs in 1 and 2 look tan colored.. plugs in 3 and 4 look darker, almost black.. they don't smell odd in any way and are not gummed up (new plugs lol)

hmm knock sensor... i did unplug it and it made no difference in how the car was running.. although i doubt its going to do much when its not runnin on all 4...

swap the plugs around.

yeah, did that too.. emailed skip this morning to see if he's got any ideas..

Black plugs mean the air/fuel mixture is too rich.

so why would it be too rich in 3 and 4 and ok in 1 and 2? i swapped injectors so i know they're not bad..

 

maf maybe?

 

at any rate maf and disty are gettin shanged tonight after work.. will post back again after i do that, lol.. i'm sure thats not going to fix it..

Which fuel injectors did you replace? 3 and 4, or 1 and 2?

 

Good luck.

i didn't read the whole post, but did u check the spark for all cylinders, ie each spark plug on its own wire?

yup.. enough spark to fry an egg on each wire..

 

and all injectors were replaced and switched to verify they all work.. even held them out and watched them pulse and spray fuel..

might i suggest one or more valves stuck?

 

or oh wait..

check the idle air control solenoid it may be stuck open

or the ps sensor may need readjusted

the ecu may be thinking that the throttle is open farther than it really is causing it to run like crap..

well if a valve was stuck it wouldn't have compression.. and it does..

 

i also just swapped the disty, and maf.. no change.. i brought it up to TDC and reset the disty.. its perfectly in time now.. fires right up as soon as you touch the key.. but only on 1 and 2.. 3 and 4 are still not doing anything..

 

any other ideas folks? i'll go check the IAC now..

swapped the IAC.. no difference.. and it wasn't stuck..

 

still stumped..

Its alive! Its alive! knew skip would have the answer...

 

car runs fine now.. just like new.. mm the sound of a turbo mmm almost forgot what it sounded like..

 

i'm not gonna post the answer to my problems just yet.. i wanna see if anyone can guess what it was first.. hehe

well...........you had the coil wires reversed.

Way to go Skip!

 

Im going to guess the injector plug in's were backward on that side.

naw, ive had one still idle and run on all 4 like that....just not smoothly....but it would idle on all 4.

You had compression, fuel and air in those cylinders AND a spark. therefore it MUST run and the failure you are describing could not have been happening. It just took the car a few days to accept it.

Look, we have all been trying to figure this out for over a week. You have had every suggestion we could think of from over a dozen people on the board. I think you owe it to us for trying just as hard as you to get your car running:-p If you dont tell and keep teasing us, it is going to be real hard to get help again:banghead:

yeah, cough if up..

but im thinking the timing was way off...

and when you were saying 1-2 you meant 3-4 ?

you had the philharmonic whangdoodler on upside down, didn't you. i had the same thing happen.

heh.. well since noone guessed yet, i'll spill the beans..

 

i had the rotation of the disty backwards.... hence the #3 and 4 wires would be on backwards..

 

i always thought the disty turned clockwise.. so i hooked the wires up accordingly.. but i never thought that it coulda turned counterclockwise..

 

Skip said in his email to just humor him and switch 3 and 4 plug wires at the disty cap.. humor him i say, haha.. ok..

 

immediately it fired on 3 cylinders, so i drove it around the house.. let it run for a few minutes, then with a couple revs, whala all 4 and soundin good..

 

still has some minor tuning problems.. 2k rpm idle, small water leak somewhere.. just a few minor things.. but i feel better now..

 

i do really appreciate all your guys help, the fsm doesn't say anything about disty rotation.. (shame on the FSM)

 

maybe we outa keep this post around somewhere.. alot of good ideas to check for this funky problem..

Originally posted by WJM

yeah, having those plus wires messed up will do the trick.

i think you were closest WJM.. but dummy me didn't realize the disty turned the other way..

damn, i was gonna guess you hooked something up wrong. isnt it nice when the clouds lift, and you have a runing car again?

yeah.. although the exhaust is still hangin off, have a water leak somewhere, and, and, and... i'll get her buttoned up tonight i hope, supposed to be snowin ?!$%

 

sad part is in a entire weekend i didn't once think that i had them wrong, lol.. ohh well live and learn..

 

least i got the t-belts right,