so like the topic says car wont start! saturday replaced the water pump and timing chain on my 98 2.4L .... put everything back together thinking i never moved the gears.... i was extremely careful. i didnt want to lose my timing. so last night i fired it up.... ran but just like i thought.... timing was a lil off. so we stopped for the night cause we were working on it for 13 hours straight. Got up this morning, went to start it again.... wouldnt fire over.... not sure why but whatever, timing was definitly a lil off when it was running.... so we ripped it all apart.... got the timing set ( we checked it 3 times before closing it all back up )! got it all back together... wont start!?!?! we cant figure out why... its gotta be something stupid and simple.... something we're over looking.... i dont know..?!?! it cranks like it really wants to start, just WONT. any ideas????

thanks
Jason

AOL- QwikCav24

did you remove the spark plug wires? maybee those are on wrong.

2.4L doesnt have spark plug wires... but we did check if it had spark and it didnt..... i'm thinking crank sensor??? anyone ... anyone???

so how did you check for spark..........just curious thats all........did you set the timing before you even let the tension off the chain........if you didnt do that you should of and save yourself alot of confusion if the timing was still set.............

i read how to check for spark in my "trusty" service manual. your take the DIS cover off flip it over and bolt it back in... you have to bolt it back in cause the one botl on the cover is acutally the ground for the spark plugs. then we just hooked the plug up and tried to start it... NO spark~! and as far as the the timing .... we took the chain and tensioner completely off to set the timing. then put the chain and tensoner back on and check it 3 times before putting the cover back on.

are you sure the cams and crank all align up when turning it over by hand.......did you put a bolt or something in the hole on the cams to hold them in place..?

sounds like the car isnt seeing the right pulses from the cams and hense is not sending any pulses to the ignition.

yeah we put bolts through the holes and made sure they locked correctly! their all lined up correctly. checked it 3 times!!!!

and chase, that would definitly make sense but what does that mean????


thanks guys

jason

if the car is getting different pulses from the cam sensors when it is turning over it is not going to activate the ignition. so basically if you are seeing no spark the car has not activated your ignition to fire. if you suspect ignition problem, you can take the idi off and take it to autozone. they will test your coil packs and then tell you the voltage they are putting out. the only other part is the ignition control module which has to be tested at a GM dealer. if i were you i would check the cams and crank time one more time, there should be a small mark around the crank that marks TDC. i dont have my haynes manual with me or i would give you the info it says about time, if you have one read it. if not maybe someone here does. keep me posted.