1989 wont start - covered all the bases

[octaneforce]

so about 2 weeks ago my car stopped running on my way home from autocross. it has not run since. BEFORE it stopped running I did a thorough tune up:

new plugs, new wires, new cap/coil combo, new rotor, new pcv valve, and new air filter

I thought this was a distributor problem so I replaced the dizzy but it had zero affect. so the car has a new dizzy, the car has spark, I have 45lbs at the fuel rail, noid light tells me that the injectors are pulsing, the timing has been confirmed (cyl 1 at tdc, balancer on zero, and rotor pointing at cyl 1). I was convinced my timing chain had skipped a tooth because ive had a rattle coming from the front of the motor lately, but the marks are lined up, however the chain seems a little loose to me. heres a video of the chain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xuxQjP1cVE

heres a video of compression test on cylinder 1. the rest showed nearly identical results


http://vid153.photobucket.com/album.../trim42A7C8EE-5556-4C2D-86DB-B4687EFF769A.mp4

and heres the link to the thread from corvette forum where we've been talking about this since it happened:
Backfired and stopped running - Corvette Forum

I am at a loss as to whats wrong with this thing. the most I ever get is a pop through the intake or a backfire from the exhaust. other than that its never even gave me a sputter.

 

[TravisRay]

Silly question im sure but is your Mass Air Flow working properly mine went bad and did same thing wouldnt start without a good sensor just asking.

 

[gmjunkie]

Sounds to me like it's 180* out.

 

[Schrade]

What's up Jesse! Where ya' been here? You see that top end job + paint that I did on the LT5? (bout 300 snappics in that thread)



OP - 45 psi?
Was that static pressure / motor off, or dynamic / idling pressure? How about pressure leakdown time static test?

 

[gmjunkie]

What's up Jesse!

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/off-topic/139178-sorry-guys-i-aint-been-around-much.html

 

[octaneforce]

What's up Jesse! Where ya' been here? You see that top end job + paint that I did on the LT5? (bout 300 snappics in that thread)



OP - 45 psi?
Was that static pressure / motor off, or dynamic / idling pressure? How about pressure leakdown time static test?

that was motor off. it held the pressure for quite some time. I walked away for probably 10-15 minutes and it stayed pegged.

 

[octaneforce]

Silly question im sure but is your Mass Air Flow working properly mine went bad and did same thing wouldnt start without a good sensor just asking.

how do I test the maf? I don't want to just throw a 200 dollar sensor at it. then again im deep enough that it doesn't really matter. the timing cover is still off so when the new timing set shows up I will re assemble and test maf.

 

[TravisRay]

Well the only way to test it really is to do a sweep test on it im not sure what wires to prong into with ohm meter or what the specs are but type it in on the forum and it should tell you... I knew it was the problem as mine was all melted on the screen inside the maf. Take it off look at the screen if its dirty clean it with maf cleaner not anything else it will eat the metal away if you use brake cleaner or something like that good luck PS if you know anyone local with close to the same year c4 then ask to use theres just to see if it does start rite up. 1989 Maf Problems - Corvette Forum try that

 

[Hib Halverson]

If the engine won't run, don't bother fooling with the MAF at this point. The engine can run without a MAF.

Find out why it won't start.

Sounds like you have fuel but have you verified you have spark?

 

[octaneforce]

If the engine won't run, don't bother fooling with the MAF at this point. The engine can run without a MAF.

Find out why it won't start.

Sounds like you have fuel but have you verified you have spark?

Yes spark has been verified with a test light and i can remove the plugs and watch then arc agaisnt the valve cover.

 

[Antz81]

You said on the other forum that you had an injector resistance of 2ohms. That is very low, should be around 14ohms (give or take a little). You unplugged the injectors and tested them one by one? If so and you got that on one of them, leave it unplugged and try starting it. (It wont run well but it should start)

 

[octaneforce]

New timing chain and gears, even a new water pump because i was in there. Car is re assembled and i replaced the ecm under the dash. Switched in the old prom. STILL NO START. does the EXACT same thing. Just occasional pops through the intake. I also realized that somebody has replaced this computer before. Whats next? Im really bummed about this.

 

[octaneforce]

You said on the other forum that you had an injector resistance of 2ohms. That is very low, should be around 14ohms (give or take a little). You unplugged the injectors and tested them one by one? If so and you got that on one of them, leave it unplugged and try starting it. (It wont run well but it should start)

I did it again and got 15-16 ohms on each injector. On the injector plugs, however, i got 18 ohms on the driver side plugs and 32 ohms on the passenger side plugs. I have no idea what any of this information means.

 

[octaneforce]

Just an update, i finally got the car running after
pretty much walking away from it. The distributor was off. I must have stabbed that thing 50 times in every possible orientation. Idk how it took so long to get it right. Anyway the car was running AMAZING i couldnt beleive it. but i got 5 minutes from my house And it chewed the belt into a million peices. I have no idea why. So now its sitting again ad

 

[85RedSled]

Congrats for finally solving the issue! It can be a pain in the azz sometime. The belt shredding is just another unrelated deal. Just like mine, as soon as I fix one thing, something else goes wrong. Welcome to the joy of owning a 30+/- year old sport car. Mine is my DD so its a constant effort to keep it on the road just so I can get to work to pay for the next thing that breaks!

 

[octaneforce]

Congrats for finally solving the issue! It can be a pain in the azz sometime. The belt shredding is just another unrelated deal. Just like mine, as soon as I fix one thing, something else goes wrong. Welcome to the joy of owning a 30+/- year old sport car. Mine is my DD so its a constant effort to keep it on the road just so I can get to work to pay for the next thing that breaks!

Amen. It would probably be cheaper for me to just stay home.

 

[kpic]

Amen. It would probably be cheaper for me to just stay home.

At the end of the day, the reality is in time it is worth it.

 

[Antz81]

Amen. It would probably be cheaper for me to just stay home.

Cheaper; yes.
But not as much fun.