my car 99 TL
ive been working on the TL now for three days trying to get this bad boy running. Changed the water pump and timing belt, at first had timing marks wrong turned on fine just didnt rev past 3k, next day car wouldn't turn on to move it a couple feet in the garage. so i pushed it up realigned the timing marks dead on and now the car cranks but it won't start. I had my buddys come over to make sure i had timing marks right and there spot on, i changed the crank sensor to make sure wasnt that and no go. All fuses are fine. any help is greatly appreciated...

 

does smell like gas while trying to start too.

 

pull CLOCK fuse- passenger end of dash- to reset ECU and clear `safe mode` its in.
ck main ignition fuse under hood

its possible damage was done running the engine with cam timing off the main timing-
exhaust valves contact the piston and bend the stem and wont seal..runs bad

 

Do a compression check. Hope the valves are not bent. If compression is good, valves are ok. Timing could just be 180 deg out of phase which causes only 3 cylinders firing at the same time. Take off timing and re-aligning timing marks. Make Cylinder 1 is on top dea center.

 

At this point you really need to make sure the internals of the engine are lining up, irrespective of what the marks show.


You can easily line up the crank and cams back to TDC as follows:
1. Get the engine at TDC on the compression stroke before you mess with the crank and sprockets. The #1 cylinder is in the rear bank, furthest cylinder to the passenger side.
2. To make sure you are at the compression stroke, remove spark plug #1, drop a long rod or coat hanger wire down, it will rest on the intake valve. Hand turn the crankshaft until the rod is at the highest point - that is your TDC! Put a mark on the rod and double check the highest point.
3. Now you can line up your crank pulley and the cam sprockets at their respective TDC marks.
4. Your timing is now back to normal.

 

Going to check on the main relay and resetting ECU tomorrow see if that helps. At crank i smell gas and everything but apparently not getting spark as won't fire up. Appreciate the help.

 

Sounds like your timing is 180 off. There is no need to reset ecu.

 

what you mean?? all my timing marks are dead on..

 

The cam sprockets make 2 revolutions for every 1 revolution of the crank. Is it possible that you turned one (or both) of the cam sprockets only "one" revolution in order to line up their marks? I think this is what 180 degrees off means.

 

So if i'm getting this right, my cams are on different stokes instead of the same?? fix this how??

 

Was putting sensor back on noticed I'm missing teeth on the crank gear, just got a new one, installing in the morning.

 

This is good news. Hopefully everything will be ok. Keep us posted.

 

So i changed the gear out and low and behold car cranked right up. Thank god its running nice and smooth. Thanks for all the help everyone...

 

So replacing the crank gear took care of your timing issue and the car is now running smoothly. I imagine that the sensor was misreading the teeth on the gear, causing the original problem. Any idea as to how the teeth may have got broken ? How long have you owned the car and has the T-belt been replaced ?

 

i was changing the crank seal and was probably me just trying to hurry the 1st day and chipped two of them. Feel like an idiot, must have taken it apart 10 times before i actually noticed the teeth were missing. Lesson learned, take your time with detailed jobs. lol