This damn car of mine
 

I'll admit - i took my sweet time with the few mods i've been working on but today was to day it was all going back together finally. I was supose to have pics and a sound clip too.
New BBK shortie headers, MSD 8.5 mm plug wires, Iridum plugs, MSD cap and rotor kit, MSD ignition coil, LT4 knock modual, air foil for the throttle body, and a hi-output alternator.
Now the car cranks but wont for the life of me fire up. I could sit there cranking till the battery dies if i wanted to and she wont fire. The engine is getting fuel becasue the pressue is there and i can smell it. So it's gota be ignition. I have a gut feelign that the opti is failing. Either the cap and rotor is defective or the whole unit needed replaced - not just the cap & rotor. Problem is - since i did it all at once, there's no telling what part of the engine is probleming. So i'm going have her towed this thursday to a repair shop to diagnose the thing and tell me what i did that ****** it up. Hopfully it's simple. But i have a feeling its the opti.

This has not been a good day. If it is the opti there goes the money i had saved for the side exiting exaust plan. :(

weak, Ill hope for you that its nothing major.

check spark and you'll have your answer.

OK - how do you check spark?

Pull the number one plug wire, which is front driver side. and you can stick a 3/8's ratchet extension into the end of it or something metal, and lay it on your valve cover have someone crank the engine, in park or neutral. if there are sparks, well then you have spark.

also if you didn't put the rotor back in the right spot you are going to have to find Top dead center and place the rotor in the right place.

that sucks dude hope its nothing big

im really sorry to hear that grant. i hope it all works out for ya

on the opti it only goes on one way.

but grant how do you know there's fuel pressure? did you check it with a gauge? dont assume there is just cuz you smell it.

Its probably ignition tho, and my guess, something very simple. like the coil, module, or opti arent plugged in.

I had two of the MSD coils fail on me. I wouldn't rule that out quite yet either...

When you took off the cap and rotor did you spin the opti itself to see how easy it spun? Usually when they are getting bad they get kinda sketchy, but if it spun smoothly then I would doubt its the opti. I know there have been other symtoms but everyone that I have done has been this way.

Another way to check spark thats a little easier and less likely to get you shocked would be just take a plug you know works and put it in any wire and then ground that plug to the block or header. If you hold the plug end you won't get shocked, assuming your wires are good that is.

Are you getting the SES light when the car is trying to start?

well nothing for me to say, except good luck. hope you figure it out.

if u dont get spark off the opti it could still be the coil. u can check the coil the same way as u do the opti with the spark plug in the end and ground it. also go ahead and double check all ur plugs and ur firing order.

:stupid:

your engine timing is off. are you sure you put the plugs on in the right order? and is your distributer set to what it was before you took it apart? i usually mark with a marker before i take them apart to make sure.

wouldn't it at least run when the timing is messed up...when i changed my headers and messed up all the plug wires orders it still ran...just kept backfiring... so i fixed it no big

yes. but being messed up and off are different. if the rotor is a half turn off, when your piston is at tdc it wont fire. it may be sparking on the down stroke, doing nothing.

grant, if your car has spark an you can hear the fuel pump, your timing is the issue. since you messed with this stuff, its most likely the problem.

ok brian!

not a necessary post...

please stop posting "okay", or any one word responses... Its kind of annoying, and you dont need to post a response that doesnt exceed 3 words and has no bearing to the crux of this thread.

/postnazi

i love crux.

oh come on justin, aren't u gonna yell at mike?

I hope it all works out for you Grant. Trust me I've been there and know there's nothing more annoying that spending all this time and money on your car for it just to not work. It absolutly pisses you off!

No one yells at mike, or i melt their face with my guitar.

This would be true if the car had a typical distributor, but the opti only goes on one way so its really hard to mess up the timing. The computer controls all the timing so there is no way that you can either advance or retard it yourself. If the parts are installed correctly the timing can't be off.

mhmmmmmm that is correct.lol. i love opti. you cant install them wrong. well kinda.haha

from what ive heard the most u can get the timing off is 2-3 degrees is this true and if so how can u tell because im gonna have to put mine back on when i get my motor built and need to know how.

Yes checked the pressure with a gauge, not JUST by smelling it. So i know thats not it.
I seriously doubt it's the coil. The MSD unit is brand new and that was more of an after thought anyway. I bought that after this started in hopes of a "easy fix". Didnt change anything.
Plugs and wires are on and in the right order - i checked that a thousand times. Besides, when she cranks it's a smooth crank - just wont fire.
I'd try that spark thing but i'm a little edgy with things that could electrocute me (past experiance with a lawn mower).
I indexed the rotor before putting the opti back together so i made sue it was in the same position that it was when it came off. But like Joe said - it only goes on one way so it's hard to mess it up. And if it was off it would run BAD, but still run. This just wont run at all.
And yes - the opti is pluged in. God I'd kick myself if that was it.
I hate resorting to this cause i WILL get rapped but i'll just let the dealership tell me what i did wrong. I have a feeling that i either bought a fautly cap and rotor or i messed up the opti houseing with the switch.

i've heard stories of bad opti's fresh out of the box so if u have the time and if u got it from a auto parts store id just take it back and tell them its bad anyways and get another one to try... thats just a free solution that will give u piece of mind about the opti.

maybe try one that you know works.

So get a 'buddy' to hold it for ya!!

You didn't tell me with the SES light. Since you are 96, I believe there is a way to jump your diag port to tell you what if any codes are popping up. I don't know for sure since I never bothered to remember because I have a 94- I think Caleb knows how to do it.

Worst case you might be able to go and buy a scanner, use it and try and take it back if you can't afford to keep it. If they won't take it back you can always Ebay it.

But from your description it sounds like a spark issue. One last resort to checking spark/gas, pull a plug after cranking it for a while and look/smell it. If it smells like gas then you are obviously getting gas and no spark.

good luck gman and keep us updated

hey! i said it first.

nope. only pre-OBDII cars can do it. the old fashion ALDL connectors will flash codes, and ive heard OBDI cars will too, but on my 95 when i did it only put it in diagnostic mode, which turned my SES light into an A/F ratio gauge :D

And i was already tossing ses lights from something else before any of this so no help there.

I wish i had the money to just switch over to the Delteq system. -Sighs-

93s are the only LT1s you can check codes by jumpin the ports. scan that ***** and see whats cooking. take it to a shop, LT1 edit or something similar should be able to find something quickly i would think. but idk, i havent personally used them so idk if it can find out things without it running or what. good luck

if you can get it to a shop they would probably only charge an hour to find the problem. most charge 1 hour for diag, and around here, thats $75 bucks.

Thats what i'm doing. The tow truck took her away tonight. The shop closes at 6 so they'll have to do it tommorw while im at work. I should have an answer by the time i get home.

OK, got the word from the dealership tonight. Not quite what i was expecting. The good news is that it wasn't something i did that screwed her up. Bad news is what did screw up is not cheap. Her fuel pump went out. I'm not going to give you the figure for repair but lets just say the side exiting exaust wont be getting done for a VERY long time now. In fact I'm concidering selling off the dual electric cut-outs to recoup some cost. But alas - at least she'll be running again... in a week or so. -sighs-

dont sale off the dual electric cut-outs! I'll kick you for that one! You have to stay calm....all will be well and you'll have the side exhaust in no time.....really....its true....I'll help ya get there.

Look on the bright side.....at least it wasnt something you screwed up....your skills are great young grasshopper!

awww im sorry grant. at least u didn't **** up

Lisa's absolutly right!! You will only regret selling them. Plus you'll never get out of them what you paid so you'll lose that money, then you'll have to buy new ones so you'll lose all that money as well. It always seems to work out in the end.

It is labor intensive pullin the tank on an F-body since the axle, some of the rear suspension has to come out, the exhaust and heatshield out of the way, and mess with the Evap stuff too, so I can only imagine what a dealer quoted you. I wouldn't be surprised to hear 4 digits...

Sorry to hear, hope you can do allright for now though..