Please help...compression, spark but no run situation...???

[gandl2123]

Would like some help if anyone knows what may be the problem I would appreciate your help.

I have a 96 Mitsubish Eclipse RS with the Non-Turbo 2.0 DOHC engine. The car ran fine until a rod knocking caused an engine swap.

Bought the replacement engine with a broken rear cam gear.

Placed the new cam gear on the rear cam and lined up the timing belts. The problem I'm having is she turns over but doesn't start. I have spark and I have good compression. She has fired fire out the open exhaust after squirting fuel into the air stream but just a stuble here and there. There was one fire thrught the throttle body but mostly seems to crank normally.

Here are some things that I'm thinking may be the area of the problem.

- when putting the cam gears on I noticed that the book wasn't very good at telling me how to put them on. The cam gear has the 2.0 and Front on them so the front cam was letter side up and looked normal with timing mark facing back toward the other gear. Now, that is where the easy stuff stops. The rear cam has the Front upside down and facing the rear of the car when the marks line up. Is this normal? Is there a possibility that one cam is 180 out? I can't find anyone who knows the answer.

Next, this motor was a junk yard motor with 90K miles on it and it had been hit on the cam gear (rear) and broke it. There was some slight damage to the timing cover but mostly just a gear change. There was no other damage at all.

Another unique thing was that the cam sensor connector was different and had to be swapped from the old motor. This was simply unbolted and bolted on.

Lastly, when I hooked the positive wire up to the battery I noticed a spark and a pop (fuse blowing) in the fuse box/center. After further inspection I know that the (Alt/Choke) fuse is blown in the box. There is power to the supply side of the fuse but not to the load side. Any attempt to bypass power (12v) to the other side of the wire leads to a spark and a relay noise from the firewall behind the battery. I only did this for an extremely short period of time (1/4 second to a touch on/off) to verify that I had some kind of short on that side.

Could it be the choke is not working and is needed to start? Can I simply hold my hand over the inlet to force less air into the stream for a richer mixture...?

Any ideas on what could have happened as the thing ran fine with the rod knocking.

Thanks for any help.

Greg

Please send replies also to [email protected] Thanks for your help. This is my 16 yo's car and I'm trying to get her going again.

 

[gandl2123]

Wired EFX: I'm familiar with the interference engines as I've had my share of Quad 4 (Grand Am) heads with 16 valves bent due to bad tensioners.

With this motor I was well aware of the fact that the thing had been hit on the timing gear and could have bent valves. After putting the new cam gear on it and belt I rotated it around and just by hand and wrench on an engine stand I had been able to blow my finger off the holes. So I installed the engine and was sure I had the belt on "by the book" and the compression is 160 lbs across the board. I removed the timing belt inspection cover and as the piston comes up on compression TDC the two cam marks align perfectly as the pistion reaches its highest point.

Sooooo, I think for some reason (maybe this car was hit while sitting still and off) I do not have bent valves. I'm just curious about the cam gear situation on the back cam. The front cam gear is right side up (letters 2.0 and Front) and the timing mark is facing to the left and center towards the rear cam. Now the rear cam is a different story as the book isn't clear on its orientation except I did place it on the camshaft with the 2.0 and Front facing me but that gear has the 2.0 and Front to be read upside down when the timing marks are facing each other. Is that right?

Where I'm looking at now is the fact that the 120amp fues that blew when I put the battery cables on is the Alternator/Choke fuse. I'm thinking that it is grounded somewhere and even thought the ALT wire being disconnected wouldn't prevent if from starting (I think) the choke just might. I plan to take (1) check with my probe to see if the wire is grounded and then disconnect if from the alternator and check it again. (2) If I can get it to not be grounded at the alternator then I will put 12v back into it and hope that the 12v reaches the mechanism that allows the choke to work. (3) If that doesn't work then I might just disconnect the injector harness and air dry the combustion chambers through the spark plut holes and then use measured amounts of spray either or carb cleaner. I'm thinking that if the choke mech isn't working that the cylinders are getting too much gas???

Thanks for your help.

Mr. Tripp

 

[drewvr4]

see this is a though one seeing as how the engine came from a junkyard, its hard to tell without being there with you seeing what the engine is actually doing.

if you have good spark, your timing is on then it sounds like a fuel problem, have you checked that the injectors fire as normal?

other then that I dont know what to tell ya man...