A little history; I have a 87 XT. The original engine ran fine until it lost a couple of lifters; at the time I didn't have the time to put into replacing them. So inturn I bought another XT; for if nothing else a parts car. The guy I purchased the car from said it ran until he parked it. So I pulled the engine and put it into my XT. Since installing the new enginge into my car I can't get the engine to start. I've got fire, air and fuel, and it still will not start. I've also checked the timing; which is also good. However if I pour gas directly into the intake the car starts up perfectly. After reading through the dealer manuals I came to the conclusion that the fuel pressure regulator was bad; I replaced it, and it still will not start. I'm at my wit's end; if you have any idea's or suggestion as to what might be wrong; please let me know. Thanks!

Hmm typically if you put fuel down the carb or intake and it starts, means the fuel pump isn't pushing enough fuel. Can you hear it come on when you turn the key? How does the fuel filer look as well?

 

 

-Prwa

Make sure you didn't swap the positions of the fuel lines when the engine was installed. Very easy to do.

Hey thanks for the reply's, and suggestions!!!! As for the fuel pump; it ran the original engine before I made the swap, and the fuel filter is new, but I will check the fule pressure and see what I get. Apparently the guy I purchased the car from was having the same issue's; after I got the car home I found all sorts of new parts in the trunk. (New Fuel pump, coils,ect. As for the fuel line's; I'll double check them I did purchase the entire set of dealer manuals on e-bay shortly after I bought the first one. These are my first subaru's, and as I quickly discovered these are a whole diferent animal to work on....lol When I did the engine swaps I marked the fuel lines with electical tape. Any other idea's or suggestion's will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!

Use a test light to verify the injectors are receiving 12V. The ECU completes the ground but it needs a signal from the crank angle sensor,CAS, inside the distributor. My guess is if the injectors are getting the 12v then the problem is most likely the CAS. Could be the wiring going back from the engine to the ECU but I doubt that.

I'm going to move this to the old gen forum.

What year was the donor XT?

 

And which disty are you using.

 

the reason I ask, is because in 87, and only 87, the refrence volts and signal volts wires in the distributors are reversed (actually it's the pin at the ECU that's reversed.....but swapping wires in the disty is easier than at the ECU.)

 

SO......try your original distributor.

You should be able to hear the fuel injectors clicking, when someone else turns the key. Did you use his or your old intake manifold? Are the plugs wet after cranking? Is a spark showing up if you pull a spark plug and keep it wired up while attempting to start the engine?

Hey guy's thanks for the reply's. For john in KY; apparantly I can't follow my own color code system for the fuel lines.....lol I got that straight today. Apparantly I swaped the supply, and return lines. So I now have fuel to the injector's; she's pushing enough fuel you can hear it bubbling in the tank if you hit the key 3 or 4 times in a row, but she still won't start. However I did not get to test the injectors to see if they are getting the 12v signal. I'll try that tommorow when I can get an extra hand.

For Gloyale; my XT is 07/87, and the donor is 06/88; so with that said all the part that are on the donor engine are origanal to the motor; except the fuel pressure regulator. By some chance do you know what pin's have to be swaped in the distributor, because if at all possible I do not want to pull the distributor in the orginal engine because I plans to rebuild it.

For Scoobiedubie; All the parts on the donor engine are the origanal parts; all I did was pull the engine, drop it into my car.

 

Again thanks for all the help!!!

Thinking the changeover occurred 1/87 If so, the distributers show be the same. Won't hurt to recheck the engine wiring harness. Always that chance something didn't get plugged in during the engine swap.

Not sure if this is helpful or not but I had a similar issue with my wagon turn out to be a blown fuse

Hey Guy's; I've been out of touch for a while. I hope everyone had good and safe holidays. Anyway I finally got my XT started. I ended up replacing the fuel pressure regulator, and she started, but not without condictions. LOL the only way it would start was with the pedal matted to the floor, and it was only running on 2 cyclinders. So I figured I had a couple of stopped up injectors; due to the amount of time the car sat before I bought it, and swapped the engine into my car. Inturn I ended up swapping the intake from my motor to the replacement motor. It was less work to swap intakes; verses the injctors. All and all when I got the swap completed she fired up just like she had never stopped.

 

Again guys I thank you all for all of your help in getting my little XT back up and going.

 

THANKS!!!!!!!