i have an 88 dl wagon with spfi as i was turning the engine over by hand with the plugs in it turned over just fine until it got close to tdc on the flywheel then it got real tight i was using a 1/2 in rachet with a 13/16 socket is that normal? i will try it without the plugs in it next to see if that changes everything it ran good when i parked then it sat for a year who knows,i like the car and it will be my winter car because my ranger sucks in the snow.

That means it has good compression.

Sounds normal.

yeah that's one less worry. oh and by the way i got my fuel pump to work,it was a bad relay,found one in my junk  now i turn the key on and the pump works for a few seconds and if i hook up the two green leads out by the firewall it continues every two seconds now to get spark.does the ecm have an automatic self check because my check engine light never came on.

There is a plastic panel under the steering column.  It has to be removed to see the real ECU light.  The LED that displays the trouble codes.

 

Once the plastic panel is removed, there is a metal case about 6" square that houses the ECU.  The LED is visible through a hole facing the driver.

yeah that's one less worry. oh and by the way i got my fuel pump to work,it was a bad relay,found one in my junk  now i turn the key on and the pump works for a few seconds and if i hook up the two green leads out by the firewall it continues every two seconds now to get spark.does the ecm have an automatic self check because my check engine light never came on.

 

Hmm......I've seen a couple of ECUs with dead CEL circuits.

 

I am losing faith in the SPFI ECU's.......I've got a drawer with 6 dead ones now......well 4 dead(no power up at all) and 2 with non-working CEL and possible other glitches....but those 2 did still run the car when I pulled them.

 

The 4 "dead" ones have a visibly burned resistor on the Main power supply in.  Position "R1" on the board.  The non-op CEL I cannot find a physical problem need a more knowledgeable programmer/computer expert to figure those.