Head gasket change no start??

Hello everyone,

I have a 92 laser rs that I'm having a few issues with. The car blew a head gasket and was not driven after the gasket blew. I changed the head gasket just as normal however the car will not start. timing marks are dead on.

The motor is a jdm motor with a cyclone intake. The only thing done differently to the car was an emissions delete. Purge selenoid not used, vaccuumm from the fuel pressure selenoid to fuel rain and another line from the selenoid to the intake manifold. I ran one line from the intake manifold to a boost gauge and one more from the manifold with a tee going to the wastegate and the other to the recirc.

When doing the install the knock sensor wire did rip out of the sensor, but I pulled the dumbdumb off the back o the sensor, soldered it back on and covered it with new dumbdumb.

The fuel pump was not turning on so I ran a power wire to the pump to test. Checked for spark and there is spark on all 4.

Ive tried flipping the cam angle sensor multipletimes to see if it was out 180 and didnt get anything.

Will these cars start with a bad knock sensor?

Any insight is greatly appretiated. Thanks again,

Evan

It should start with a bad knock sensor.
However, make sure the ECU's coolant temp sensor is plugged in and working, or you might not get the right fuel to fire it up.

After cranking it, pull a spark plug and see if it's wet with gas. If not then your injectors are not firing, so the ECU isn't even trying to start it up.
Otherwise, look into the ignition system.

When you put your timing belt on, where your dowels at 12 or 6 or mixed match?

The dowels on the cams were both at 12.


After cranking the car the plugs were pulled and they were wet. I dont think its fuel. All plugs when pulled and set on valve cover fire when the cars turned over. I should also note that I also checked the ecu caps and they were fine.

I checked and the ecu coolant temp sensor is plugged in as well.

So you have spark and fuel, now double-check the firing order.
If that's good then maybe somehow there is the wrong amount of fuel or the spark is weak.
Do you have any modifications to the fuel system or any fuel control equipment installed?

There is no modifications to the fuel system. The car is 100% stock with exceptions of the jdm motor swap.

I just checked and firing order is correct


3
2
1 coil
4
4 3 2 1
cylinders
(front of car)

That is the correct firing order.

Are you using the injectors that came with the motor but the ECU that came with the car?
Maybe the motor has different injectors and you should put the old 450cc in.

Im using the stock injectors as well as the ecu that was in the car before the gasket was changed. The car did run before I changed the head gasket. No parts were changed.

This one has me baffled. Ive had quite a few DSM's and none of them hated me this much.

I figured that would be too easy.

Does anyone have a vaccumm diagram for a cyclone intake? I found one online but I'm not sure of the source credibility since it was being corrected after being posted.

Could try a different ignition/MPI relay, its near the shifter under the console, but you will notice it click usually,..

Sounds like it could be a bad ECU like the last no start issue mentioned on here, or a bad MAS connection, sometimes the wire on the backside of the mas plug cracks and exposes the wire causing funny things.

Have you done the old analog volt meter swing test for codes.

And i was confused, you deleted the emissions, but you did keep the fuel pressure regulator hooked up right, of course you did.

You sure your number 1 cylinder was at TDC when you set up timing marks? Possible it could be at the opposite end of where you need it to be. Is the motor doing anything unusual when you're cranking? Like turning over slowly, or almost firing, or...?

#1 is always TDC when the dowel pins are at the top (as established earlier)...

Not if you disconnected the timing belt before you set the timing.

Oh yeah I wasn't thinking hard enough about that.. I never turn the cams individually.

Yes #1 was at top dead center. All timing marks line up perfect. The ecu is fine, I checked the caps and MPI is clicking as usual

The maf sensor was never unplugged during the install either.

I havent checked for codes yet. I wasnt sure if it would read anything as the car hadnt started yet.

An update to add.. All vaccumm lines were ran back to stock jdm with nothing deleted and still a no go.

I also spun the crank 6 rotations after I installed the belt and all marks still lined up perfect. There was nothing out of the ordinary when trying to start it.

Hmmm. You got spark, fuel... better make absolutely sure you've got compression.