HELP PLEASE!!!!! 94 1.8L Eclipse. WONT START

[CRANKED91TSI]

Ok, i own a 91 tsi and am not very familiar with the 4G37 1.8L engines. But my friend has a 4g37 in his 94 eclipse and we were driving and it spit spuddered and died. We have checked all we can think of. it is getting fuel (we also replaced the fuel filter) It is getting spark. We have also replaced the Distributor. When we attempt to start it it will act like it's trying to start but will not, and when we stop cranking it over it will spudder like it fired. but it will not start... Anyone have any clue as to why this will not start? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. THANKS GUYS! -Twitch.

 

[DSM1G90]

When you replaced the dist, did you get it aligned correctly with no.1 cylinder on compression stroke?

Sounds like you're off a couple of teeth, or you're off 180* when you did the change.

I've done 4G37's before and they are not that all hard to work on - quite a nice little motor that will run forever if you take care of them...

-DSM

 

[bcowx06]

if you have fuel, and spark then the only other thing to check is comp. if you have all three then your car has no choice but to start. but if you have all three and it wont then your timing is probally wacked

 

[shockracer]

i would also say check your timing belt and the ecu CAPs.

 

[xhackerekx]

check timing 1st

 

[DSM1G90]

Trick on doing distributors is to roll the crank to TDC on compression stroke for No.1. Then take the cap off and see where the rotor is pointing then mark that on the outside of the distributor. Then you can pull the dist. and do whatever is needed.

When you put the dist. back in, you get the TDC back on compression stroke for No.1 (if you rolled the crank for any reason and you might have to pull the head cover off and see how the valves are-both valves should have play under the lifters when on TDC compression stroke) you'll have to roll the rotor away from the mark so when the geartrain begins to meet up when you begin to put the dist. back in and due to the helical geartrain of cam and dist, the rotor should roll towards the mark that is on the dist. If you get this right, then lock down the dist, and check for base 5*BTDC after getting it started.

-DSM

 

[94Eclipse4g37]

ok i got a new computer i just have to put it in and check to see if it works but if it doesnt then the car seems like it might be flooding out...what causes that if it is?

 

[aaronhawk60]

I have a 93 talon 1.8 that I have worked on alot and it deffinately sounds like you timing is off I had the same thing happen to me when I changed my dist. pull it out and set #1 to tdc and try it again.

 

[94Eclipse4g37]

do i need to completely re-time the whole motor or just set it back to tdc?

and what do i do about the flooding problem that i seem to be having? would being out of time cause my motor to flood out?

 

[swade]

Put it back to TDC and reinstall the distributor. I had to do the samething and it was a pain trying to figure out what was wrong.

swade

 

[94Eclipse4g37]

ok i have timed the motor 5 different times and every time it does the same thing. NOTHIN. it cranks over and doesnt do anything. i had a mechanic look at it and he said somethin about sinking the tensioner and the camshaft which i dont know what the hell hes talkin about bc i dont see what the tensioner has to do with the car starting since all it is used for it to tighten the belt. someone please tell me what else could be wrong. im almost positive its not the timing so whats the next thing to replace that would cause the car not to start and for the motor to flood out? im thinkin that the only reason the car isnt starting is mainly because it is flooding so what could be causing the motor to flood out?

 

[I-DSM]

I have 2 DSMs one its a 92 with a 4g63 n/a, the other its a 94 with the 1.8 4g37, it was an automatic and i changed the transmission to a manual. the old motor was smoking so i decided to buy a new engine from the junkyard. after buying it i noticed it had 3 broken lifter arms and timing was off. so i simply took the head from the smoking engine a dropped on the junkyar's since sylinders were like-new with very nice compression. I lined all timing marks, including the distribuitor and when cranking all i get its explosions backwards meaning its firing through the intake. Now im heading to the junkyard again to see if its a ecu problem. I tested all four times and they are as accurate as they can be, i pulled the injector out and the are working, it could be that i messed up the computer while plugging and umplugging terminals from the engine while battery was plugged in.

 

[lugones]

i had the same problem with a 2g eclipse gst it was all perfect but the car would just try to turn on and nothing well it was my crankshaft sensor that has gone bad so i would recomend u to try to change ## crankshaft sensor and c what happens sense i fix my problem like that.

 

[96 420a-t]

At any time have you checked for codes??

 

[dannyd97gst]

May have been posted, I did not read everything as this thread is 1 1/2 years old. Do you have fuel pressure? You can rent a fuel pressure tester from most parts stores. I have only experienced ecu problems that prevented spark like the other poster stated. Seems very odd no one has a solution yet.

 

[96 420a-t]

Holy crap I just realized that newbie just revived a 1.5 year old thread. And I missed it.

 

[I-DSM]

I know this is old I should post how I ended up fixing. After hours of figuring out, I took the distributor appart and noticed how it was put together, the i took a spark plug and started spining the crank until I got a spark exactly when piston 1 reaches state 0 or the beginning of the cycle, all the way up, so that means I had the right wire on the right place. I repeated the same for every other piston in Secuense, when i finished, turned the key and bam turned on right up. Turns out that the distributor was not even close to what says on the book, it was all weird and not in order, so the motor was doing the same.

 

[DSM1G90]

With the motor at TDC, the rotor should be just after No.1 contact under the cap since the ass'y should be at BTDC 5*.

No.1 should be at the bottom-close to the "6:00 o'clock" position facing the cap, with the rotor rotating in a clockwise direction. Firing order is 1-3-4-2.