Bossnine

Hello all! This will be a long post, but I want to give all the info I can!

My wife got a 2003 auto TL for graduated high school back in 2013. She had 145k miles on her give or take. She's ran perfectly for years. My father-in-law is meticulous about maintenance but he doesn't do it himself. My dad and I do everything ourselves and have never had any issues with our vehicles. She supposedly had a new transmission put in or at least remanned before they bought her. I've read somewhere that if her tranny bolts were painted blue that means that she did in fact go in for the recall, which she does.

The car ran fine up until early December 2019 (we got married in August and I admit all I've done to her is keep up with fluids and changed the brake pads, as she's been running great since we met). At that time, she got a slight jerk to her every now and then at speed - exactly like a coil going bad. That's what I suspected, but I waited to see if she ever pulled a code for which one before switching them (to see if she pulled the code for the same one in a different spot). However, then she got a small hesitation when shifting up to 2nd gear when cold. I noticed it immediately but due to our location I couldn't do anything to her until Christmas when we were back home. By that time however, she started slipping badly through all gears and even the dreaded delay when going into reverse. I got her home right before Christmas (250 miles away), and she finally came on with just one code: P1750. Despite this being for the solenoid, a few posts I saw on here said replacing the range sensor (aka the NSS) solved this for them. I replaced the solenoids for the transmission and the range sensor from a pick n pull car that had been totaled, as I got all the parts for super cheap with a warranty. Her shifting was fantastic for a few days, until my wife drove her and said she did it again. I did a couple fresh flushes on the tranny as well, and this seemed to really perk her up. No issues for a couple days. I was just doing the recommended short drive through the gears when she did the slight jerk again (like a coil), and suddenly died. I was just cruising at 50mph while now on the gas (that I can remember). All her electrics were still fine and she made no real sounds (like a pop, tick, or backfire). I had my code scanner in her trunk so I checked it while I waited on AAA. It had P0336 now (I had cleared the P1750 previously and there was no light before she died). Once I had her towed home, my dad and I started digging into her to change out the CKP. The code scanner was reading a constant 0 as the RPM even when she was being turned over so we knew there was for sure no signal. As soon as we started, we saw not-so-good things. The motor mount on that side wasn't even bolted it. The bolts were in, but not tightened, and the small amount of clearance between them and the shock tower is what was keeping them from falling out. There were bolts missing from the upper cover for the timing belt. So whoever did the job on it before (my father-in-law had the belt/water pump/tensioners replaced about 4 years/40,000 miles ago), essentially gave up on putting everything back. Once we got the covers off, the belt was shredding (still intact mostly), the water pump had locked up, and the adjuster pulley had broken, losing all of it's ball bearings that were now in the bottom of the area, around the crank/CKP. Once we got all that mess cleaned up and the old belt off the pulleys (it had gotten HOT so it had seemingly melted into the grooves), we put in a new water pump, belt, and tensioners. However, when I looked up a guide for timing, all they mentioned was to line everything up to TDC. I went to start her up before putting everything back together and she started immediately and idled fine, but had the slightest roughness and tick to her, so I shut her down. We looked at the marks again and it seemed like the front cam pulley was one notch ahead. Then I read about the battery tiedown to keep the hydraulic tensioner from bumping too suddenly and causing this, which we didn't do the first time. So, we removed the tensioners, reset it, lined up the notches PERFECTLY and redid it. After getting the tiedown out and turning her crank by hand 6 times, we went to start her and... nothing. She turns over, but won't start. I then realized that like an idiot I didn't make sure I had the crank lined up (and not one full revolution out, aka 180 degrees off) after cleaning the pieces of old belt off of her. So I thought "maybe she's out one turn" and then turned the crank one revolution. This is the first interference engine I've worked on (mostly all domestic engines), so I was cautious of valves, but she didn't have to much of an issue going around. So, I tried again... and the same result. Nothing, We noticed that it seemed like the CKP sensor wasn't putting out a signal again, so I put the original back on there and she barely started, but I shut her down as it wasn't running clean. Then I saw some posts on here about how if she's 180 out, it'll barely run, just like she did. So, we turned her crank back one revolution to where she was the first time when she started right up, and still nothing. The code scanner is reading a signal from the CKP sensor now (we believe one of the ball bearings got down there and blocked the magnet, shutting the engine down immediately and saving her valves/piston tops). However, she just won't start. She seems like she really wants to, but just won't fire. The fuel pump is running and she has pressure. She's perfectly in time (I hope... it's the same as when she started right up at least!). I haven't checked her spark, but would anything cause her to not get any now (like if I smacked another sensor)? I've heard that she won't start if the water pump isn't turning, but would she also do that if the PS pump or other belts aren't on or the motor mount isn't bolted on yet (currently just trying to make sure she fires up smoothly before putting everything back together)?

I'm basically just at a lost. Like I said I don't have any true experience on an interference engine like the 3.2, but it doesn't really make any sense to me that she starts right up when possibly 1 notch out of time, but when all things are the same except her timing is spot on, she won't start. Sorry for the long post, but after reading all the posts I could fine along with a repair manual, I can't find anything exactly like my issue. My original thought when she died was the transmission locked up or something, but that doesn't seem logical either. Also no codes are being pulled when trying to start or during the 3 total seconds of run time since then. Any and all help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!