LIMG Troubles
 

I just finished changing my gasket, got the car all back together and now it wont start. Its backfiring into the airbox but it is acting like its trying to run. I put all th epushrods back in the correct order but I wanna say the engine seems to be outta time. I did roll it over a couple times without the camshaft sensor plugged in but i would doubt that would have something to do with it as I have pulled the ground off the battery and let it sit overnight and the car is still acting up. Also, I noticed every few times I try to start it, its making a nasty noise from down by the flywheel. Anyone have an idea what could be causing this?

spark plug wires on incorrect...100%

thts my guess too

Nope, that's the first thing I checked. This is really weird, I'm not the most experienced mechanic but it really seems to me the engine is somehow out of time. I'm gonna pull the camshaft sensor out and clean it in case it got gunked up by the sludgy antifreeze/oil mixture. But its not the spark plug wires, I checked the harness plugs and everything is plugged in, the vacuum hoses are all on though a couple connectors got cracked in the process but I'm certain that' not an issue, and I'm also certain the pushrods are all in correct order.

Compression test, then put the pushrods in the correct order for reals.

Need I repeat myself about the pushrods being in correct order?

Compression is good on all cylinders

Firing order for sure then. Did you happen to put 1 on the back?

I did this job recently on a van and had an issue similar. One of the rear plug wires was put on wrong...

I would start with spark plug wires...

And Im pretty confident I followed the chart I found online... But it was alte at night... Just triple check yourself. If in doubt try swappign a few around.

Ours was on the back side...

Happened to me too.

The plug wires are mixed up, I put them on backwards

I put the 2,4,and 6 wires on 1,3,and 5 :blush:

1 3 and 5 are in the back and 2 4 and 6 are in the front

Okay, ill go double check the plug wires again. I looked at the coil pack earlier thinking maybe i had it mixed up but it appeared right. Just for the hell of it I'll go switch them around.

Yeah upon further investigation, the plug wires are correct and to put them on any other way would be obviously wrong. I don't know what you guys mean about front and back. The terminals on my coil pack are all in a single row, with the number corresponding to the wire printed on the back below the terminal. My wires are also labeled and the numbers match up to where they are plugged in on the coil. I never had the wires off the plugs themselves so they are on the correct spark plugs. Another thing I have observed is that earlier I went to try and start it and everything sounded fine as it rolled over, but then it back fired. There are a lot of times it sounds like everything is all fine, but then there are the time is sounds pretty obvious its outta time which leads me to believe it is in fact something electrical.

OK Front and back doesn't mean the coils, it's the plugs.

Front and back means the plugs in the front of the engine and the plugs back behind the firewall.

Actually there is no front and back. Most people think that because they dont understand the transverse engine. There is only left and right. the right side of the enigne is plugs 1 3 and 5 and the left side is plugs 2 4 and 6.

Do you smell gas from behind the car when it's running? If you do, it's the plugs, trust me. It's really the only thing that makes sense, unless there is something else that you might be leaving out.

Did you take the coil pack and ICM off the motor when you did the work? Did you plug the 2 ends back into the ICM?

Yes, I do smell gas burning when I try to start it but I havent gotten it running yet. And I understand what your saying as far as front and back but that isn't applicable here because, like I said, I left the wires on the plugs when I did this. The coil pack and ICM both had to come off to do the gasket, but is plugged in correctly. I do notice there is a decent sized piece of insulation missing from the wire of number 5, but no wire is showing and cant imagine that would be the cause of my troubles. A friend is gonna stop and take a look here in a bit so well see what he has to say. I dont know what else I might be leaving out, like I said, all I did was fix my gasket.

Does anyone know if theres a vacuum advance on these engines? My starter is shot now from trying to start the junk so much so I'm gonna wait til morning to go buy a new one or at least get a little more life outta mine. Another thing, the rings are good but I can roll the engine over with just a little ratchet on the alternator so we are guessing the intake valves are staying open. At least I got my buddies STi til I get this thing running.

No vacuum advance on these. Do a compression test at least and do yourself a favor. The started could have got too hot, but the battery is probably run down. If some valves are not closing, the pushrods aren't in right.

i am going to put my money on your pushrod order

can't be pushrod order, the reason it's farting out the intake is that it's FIRING IN THE INCORRECT ORDER!!!!!!!!!!! the mixture burns when one of the valves is open... DAMN LISTEN MAN

go out, take EVERY WIRE OFF, and RE DO IT!

nate when you put your pushrods in the wrong order you called me saying there was smoke coming out of the TB when you cranked it, so how are you going to say its just plugs and wires?

oooo burn

does the engine spin over and when it backfires does it suddenly stop or shutter?

for your information, i NEVER put my rods in the incorrect order, my Lifters were gummed, not bleeding out, and holing the valves

OOOH BURN

i have this same problem, i thought it was bad gas in the tank but this is the exact same problem. i try to start it up and it just backfires and smoke starts comming out everywhere if i give it gas. then it sputters and dies. im going to check my wires but i double check them everytime and i doubt thats the problem.

o and i forgot to say, no its not the pushrods because im 100% sure they're in right.

either of you check codes? is it possible the camshaft postion sensor is toasted?

OK i can only say did you plug the knock sensor in, also did you check for spark at each plug? ( just covering the basic stuff.)
did you plug in the Ignition module in all the way?

check the fuel pump turning on?
i have a question way did you turn the motor over?
when I did the LIMG didnt touch anything but the lifter rockers to pull the rods..
check fuel presser at the rails?

Again just covering a few things to check and maybe find the one thing you missed...
hope this helps.

I can't believe nobody asked this question.

How did you get the ICM off without removing the coil packs? Sorry that's not possible since the bolts that hold on the ICM are UNDER the coil packs.

Since you said you didn't remove the wires from the coils, and you HAD TO remove the coils, did you put the coils back in the right place?

i think he meant the entire assembly, unless i'm a skimmer and he took OFF the ICM for testing, then yes, the bolts that hold down the ICM are UNDER the coil packs, and the ICM CANNOT be tested unless it is off that ground plate

Are all three of the connectors hooked up to the coil packs? The first time I did one of these I missed a connector and the car misfired horribly.

i think we need to stop with the bs and the basics should be covered:

fuel?
spark?
compression?

CHECK THEM, dont say you know.

i think we made him mad, becuase we were right, and he was shown up... lol

Okay, thanks for the help guys. I finally figured out the problem, which was just bad plugs, I replaced them and the wires and she fired up nicely. Now I have a new problem tho. The battery won't charge. I checked all the wiring, everything is fine there. The battery was checked, and that is fine. I took the alternator off and took it to Auto Zone where they checked it and said it was bad, so I bought a new one. I fire it up and the check engine light, and the battery light both stay on. Its just running off the battery. I have check the voltage of the battery and when not running I get 11.49 volts off of it, which is alright since I drove it home after recharging it. While running, the voltage is 11.29 volts. Anyone know what else could be causing this?

Think again, though I am kinda disappointed I didnt check the plugs right off the bat. But its one thing after the other.

sounds like you have a bad connection somewhere, check the cable for the main, and possibly just run a new one, they can deteriorate, because of being so close to the rear exhaust manifold

Yeah maybe Nate, but I got 2 crappy alternators from AutoZone. One lasted a week the other 2 years.

Is there an Advanced Auto around you? I've been buying my parts there ;)

I checked all the wiring and there's nothing that appears to be shorting out or anything. I followed all the wiring to and from the alternator. It's throwing me engine codes along with the battery light so I might just have to hope she will make it into town for the free diagnostic at "the Zone". Oh and I got the alt with a lifetime warranty so I should be good as far as the thing not working.

The camshaft sensor is more of an advance. From what I have found out, it will only make you car idle shitty and wouldnt be the cause of it not starting.

Well if you had bad plugs then you might or should have miss fire codes that why the SES light would be on...
as for the Alt. sounds like you might have a bad one or bad battery cable..
try running a 4 gauge wire from the alt to the battery...

Check the battery cable and it is good, I will upgrade though just to be sure. But last night I pulled the battery again to recharge it and reinstalled it a little bit ago and theres no engine light anymore, just the battery light. That really sucks because I went and bought a code reader and now its not throwing me any codes. I'm completely stumped right now.

should still be saved, if it went out on it's own

Battery light means alty isn't charging at all. If it charges it sends opposing voltage on that circuit, so nothing flows, so that way the light shuts off.

check for, on the alty harness.. (I forget the wires exactly)
-12v coming in
-a low voltage coming out... whatever that may be

Next go to the voltage reulator (unless that's in the alt.. some GMS have that, I forget if the alero does)... sometimes in the PCM (chrysler mostly.. I think.. but I don't remember)... sometimes just a box. Search wiring diagrams online to hopefully find it.

Check to make sure you have a bit of voltage on the pin coming from the alt going into the regulator (regulator just controls current flow in field winding on alt). If there is a little voltage on there, back probe into it, and ground that wire BRIEFLY***!!! The engine should bog a bit, and system voltage should spike (like 16V or up.. which is why you only do it BIREFLY).

If it spikes when you ground the wire going to the regulator, the regulator's bad.
If it doesn't have 12v coming into the alt.. you have a problem with the circuit that feeds it.. time to test around more.
If you have 12V coming in, and 12v coming out, and 0v at the regulator, you have an open circuit between the alt and regulator.

If the field circuit all tests out OK, you can be pretty sure the alt's bad.