Crankshaft bolt torqued and everything stacked correctly on the snout?

 

Crankshaft bolt torqued and everything stacked correctly on the snout?

 

Only rotated the engine clockwise while changing the belts (except while relieving the tension on the belt). Didn't have any of the gears/pulleys off. And I know it was torqued to 155 when I last screwed with it because I had to get a bigger torque wrench... But I'll double check.

Pressure was fine until I started this latest belt adventure. The OPRV is new... and the sensor is new-ish (after the URO one I had died... I got the OEM unit). Reading Clark's... he says it can lose prime if it's sitting around. It's only been a few weeks... but I figured I'd either try dumping some oil down the filter hole per Clark's or removing the plugs and spinning the engine with the starter (which is how I got it up when I put the engine back together).

As for the no-start... the spark tester I ordered just came in the mail... so I'll move on to that this weekend.

It's weird... learning how to work on this car has been a ton of fun... and great stress relief for the most part... but I think it's making me (more) paranoid.

 

I went through something like that with my 2001 BMW 740IL (E38). LOVED that car. Did SOOOO much work on it. Replaced just about everything. But they have an issue where the timing chain guides go out. They are plastic and fail with age. It's not if. Only when. ALL of them do it, eventually. I had got it working perfectly when it started missing one day. Pulled the code, and it was one of the codes that could (and often did) mean the guides had gone out. After all the time, money, blood, sweat, and tears I'd spent on it, I just couldn't do anymore. I parked it under a tree, bought a Toyota Corolla to daily drive, and thought "I'll get to it one day".

That was 3.5 years ago. It still sits exactly where I parked it. And I've bought 4 other cars since then. It's so humid and shady where I live in the middle of the woods, that it's rotted inside now. All the beautiful leather ruined. I just need to salvage it. Don't be me. I know how frustrating it can be when a car gets a major problem or you come up against a wall on troubleshooting. I've regretted it every time I've thrown in the towel. Just keep in mind, you've done so much to this car, it's worth it to keep after it.

 

Hmmmm........

 

Well... New as in "in the last year." Went from original 3-piece to one piece.

 

951Dreams -

I'm not ready to throw in the towel quite yet. I may need the car to _sleep_ in if I don't finish our house soon.

I did the same thing with a Harley Sportster. Bought it new back in the mid-90's. It had been rotting in my back yard for 10 years until this last Thanksgiving - when I gave it to my brother-in-law. It made me made me feel old to see it go (never mind the fact that only old guys ride Harley's these days)... but riding it around where I live scared the crap out of me. I did keep the "peanut" fuel tank. I'll stick it on a shelf in my living room.

Back to the 951...

Pulled the plugs this morning. Wet with fuel. Haven't checked for spark yet... but pretty obvious that I don't have it given that all of the plugs were wet.

 

There is a very specific way to install the OPRV (using an alignment tool or old OPRV). Its fairly easy for the OPRV to bind up due to a misalignment between the oil cooler housing and the OPRV. If it binds, it will cause the car to show extremely high pressure (oil will start pushing out past your oil filter seal, OPRV stuck closed) or very low pressure (OPRV stuck open). The OPRV is what regulates your oil pressure against the force of the pump, similar to how a Fuel Pressure Regulator regulates fuel pressure against the fuel pump.

Secondly, the dash gauge isnt always to be trusted - the oil pressure sender wires could be crossed (or sensor is bad), the pickups on the gauge dirty, etc. But if you are showing no pressure, then you should 100% verify with a mechanical gauge (hooked up to where the oil pressure sensor is located) as truly having no pressure can cause damage to your bearing and journal surfaces. Diagnosing low oil pressure is also outlined on Clarks Garage. Keep in mind that pressure really wont show up until the car is actually started and running as the starter doesn't spin the engine enough for the oil pump to build full pressure- so low pressure while cranking is probably normal... Maybe others can confirm this?

When you are doing your tests for spark (any results on that yet?) ensure that the fuel pump fuse is disconnected. Two reasons why - repeated cranking will flood the cylinders with fuel, potentially fouling your plugs/hydrolock and secondly the fuel can leak past the rings and contaminate your oil.

Do your spark test and report back, I am betting you lack spark. This will lead to a series of additional tests (outlined on Clarks) - so once you confirm lack of spark, head on back to Clarks Garage ignition troubleshooting section series of diagnostic steps and let us know if you have specific questions related to the diagnostic steps. Possible scenarios are bad cap/rotor, bad ignition primary/secondary coil, bad speed/reference sensors (do you have rpm bounce while cranking?).

 

In what shouldn’t be a surprise from the wet plugs... no spark. At the plugs or from the coil to the distributor.

Next I’ll make sure the spark tester works by trying it on a _car_ that works... and then on to the next item on the checklist.

 

And... no voltage at the coil with the ignition in the “on” setting (vs. “start.”)

Update. Power at coil. See below.

 

Of interest, on my 86 I got at least 3-4 bar oil pressure just cranking. Since our oil filters are upside down, and if you can get oil past the anti-drain back value to pre-fill, I don't know about it, I always pull the plug from the center of the distributor and crank until I get oil pressure. Takes about 15-20 seconds. I know I should also pull the fuel pump relay, for the reasons stated above, but I've done this multiple times and haven't flooded the engine or hydro-locked it. Yet at least! Next time I'll try and remember to pull the fuel-pump relay as well.

All that to say, you can get pressure on the gauge just by cranking with the starter.

 

Check that. I DO have 12 v at the coil. I was checking between the terminals and not the terminal and ground (battery negative).

Bad coil? Seems weird. It’s a new-ish Bosch (2 years or so). I have read that the new ones are no longer actual made by Bosch in Germany and aren’t as good... but still seems weird to have it die all of the sudden. I’ll check the resistance.

 

Well, now you at least have your culprit. You got this now. It can only be so many things!

 

But you do not have power through the coil to the distributor?

 

Connecting the spark tester in-line between the distributor and the coil gets me nothing when I turn the car over.

I suppose it could be a cable issue, too? I didn’t connect the tester directly to the coil because the connection was different... I connected it between the cable from the coil and the distributor.