Not starting. post HG

Discussion and technical advice the SW20 MR2. 3S-GTE, 3S-GE, 3S-FE etc
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abovetherim
Posts: 594
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Leicester

Not starting. post HG

Post by abovetherim »

Background...
I cooked the engine and blew the HG. The engine cut out before I reached an emergency layby and I believe that was due to melting the ht leads as much as the loss of compression from the massive hg failure. The dizzy cap also melted at one of the fixing holes.

I took the head off, stripped it down and got it skimmed 12 thou. Relapped all valves back in and swapped some shims around to get all valve clearances in spec. The fuel rail wasn't dismantled just lifted off the injectors.

Put the engine back together (new gaskets) with new water pump, T-stat, timing belt, spark plugs, dizzy cap and rotor arm. A supposedly good used set of HT leads.

I have double checked the static timing and is 100% bang on.
I can smell petrol after cranking.
I have checked for spark on a couple of cylinders and I get a spark but how good it is i'm not sure.
100 ish psi compression across all cylinders
No engine codes but oil light flashes not the engine light (uk clocks on jdm car???)
Leads including king meter out in spec
Coil pack meters out in spec
Distributor meters out in spec and air gap gauges in spec.

When cranking if i put WOT then it nearly half fires a little but no real catching or coughing.

Initially I thought the injectors weren't firing but I now think they are as I can smell fuel and the top of a cylinder was wet looking thro the plug hole.

Is there anything I can meter at the ecu to see if the distributor is getting the correct signal from the dizzy? And to see if the injectors are getting a fire signal?

What else might the heat have damaged??

Or maybe I should just get a v6 for conversion.
platmatt8
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 8:41 pm
Location: Blackburn (Home of the mighty Rovers)

Re: Not starting. post HG

Post by platmatt8 »

Can you confirm you have the HT leads in the right sequence.

Counting from the dissy cap the top to bottom (1 to 4) and for plugs (right to left 1 to 4)

Dissy 1 (top) = plug 1 (right)
Dissy 2 = plug 2
Dissy 3 = plug 4 (left)
Dissy 4 (bottom) = plug 3
abovetherim
Posts: 594
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Leicester

Re: Not starting. post HG

Post by abovetherim »

Thanks for the reply.
I have not checked against your description but the yes by lead for cylinder 1 nearest timing belt is on No1 on the dizzy cap. The cap is numbered!
I have double checked it four times lol
platmatt8
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 8:41 pm
Location: Blackburn (Home of the mighty Rovers)

Re: Not starting. post HG

Post by platmatt8 »

So you have 1,2,4,3 :thumleft:
pbmr2
Posts: 929
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:49 pm

Re: Not starting. post HG

Post by pbmr2 »

abovetherim wrote:
100 ish psi compression across all cylinders


100psi is too low, min for the 3sge is 142psi. Target is 178psi. The turbos are a bit less but target is still 164psi, min 128psi.

vacuum leak? Something like the brake booster hose, PCV valve or ACIS chamber. Maybe one way valve in the brake booster pipe got melted too?

Have you checked the ECU for blown or leaking capacitors?

You seem to have covered most other things, that's all that came to mind.
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