1FSTBRD
Registered User
I did a cam/ heads install on my Mustang a couple of months ago, no problems (other than a erratic/ hunting idle that was solved by raising the idle). Here, I'm a bit stumped, because the car had no issues before the teardown. I think that it may have something to do with fuel or spark (or a huge air leak somewhere), seeing as the car turns over, but won't start. It's plug and pray, all the way. I've seemingly checked all connectors, connections and hoses, and have also wrote a tune from Dave D to my QH for my mods, and QH/ BE seem to be reading everything fine now, after I had some trouble in the last week trying to get the hang of it.
Here's what I've done:
--tightened the heads down to factory specs
--lined the crankshaft timing mark up with the camshaft timing mark (keyways), and put a new timing chain and tensioner on it from Cloyes
--I've torn down/ re-installed the TB/ intake plenum/ supercharger/ return plenum/ intercooling tubes two times before and had made sure that I had hooked up and tightened everything just like I had back then, including gasket maker stuff on all of the intercooler tubing connectors. There was one time that I hadn't tightened the sc top collar nut enough, and the car would start and fire up, but die down right away or idle like crap, and another time, the lower intercooler tube wasn't lined up 100 percent with the intercooler. Same effect; would start, but die right away from no vacuum. So I'm thinking that I can rule that out, because the car should at least fire up, correct?
--the DIS worked fine before the teardown
--I have re-checked all of the spark plug wires at both the spark plugs and coil pack. Everything looks like it is correct
--I'd put the original coil pack on (was otherwise running a Screamin' Demon), and had also made sure that the grounding capacitor was bolted to one of the coil pack bolts, and had re-checked the coil pack electrical connector
--re checked crankshaft sensor; appears to be correct
--set up the camshaft sensor and housing to Ford specs at 26 degrees past TDC on cylinder 1 on the compression stroke (notch in crankshaft lined up with pointer on the block), with (for lack of a better description without posting the official Ford diagram) the sensor essentially pointing to the passenger side headlight (fairly easy to judge, since moving the camshaft position housing gear a notch forward or backwards puts the angle way off); bought a camshaft sensor tool to line it up instead of eyeballing/ ballparking it
--cycled the key on and off several times to prime the fuel pump; I can hear it turn on
--checked the fuel pump reset button in the trunk, just in case it was tripped. It wasn't.
--the battery was toast after sitting for a month with the alarm on (this also drained my Mustang battery and I had to boost it, and it was similarly hesitant to fire up on first start after the install). Wasn't holding a charge, as it would read 12.25 V with an ohmmeter with no accessories on, and would drop to 11.7 immediately with the accessories turned on. Tried to charge it and it still dropped to 9.77 volts on cranking. I had bought a new battery and put it in and it will still crank but not start
--double checked the injector electrical wiring; the wiring has a tag for #1 injector, and from there on out, it's pretty much straightforward, since the wiring harness has short wires for the injectors that (should) make it obvious as to which one goes which
--O2 sensors are hooked up (the only one that I disconnected was the driver's side, and that is definetely re-connected)
--tested all fuses, and they are fine. The fusible link fuses I didn't test yet, though, but visually, none of them seem to be fried
I double checked all the connections for the obvious things--MAF, throttle body (position sensor connector, IAC connector), and all the vacuum connections on the plenums.
One thing I need to clarify is that I had bought some 42 lb injectors from Super Coupe Performance. Not sure what brand they are; just that they're the ones that Bill sells on his site. One thing that I noticed, is that they don't sit in the injector hole like the factory ones do.......there's no "hat" on the injector, where it seats it in there nicely. I had pushed the injectors in as far as they'd go without forcing them, and they seemed snug. Could the problem lie here?
Also, there are two connectors that appear to have no other connection to go to:
--one is a grey connector behind the intake/ return plenum, and appears to have been not connected when I bought the car. My SC is a '91 with an '89 engine, and I'm wondering if this wasn't for something like an EGR. Trying to eliminate problems here, I'd looked at the inside of where the connection would be, and it is dusty, much like everything else along the firewall. You'd think that if it was hooked up, there would be a clear line from where the dusty outer part would be, to a clean and non-dusty one. I don't remember ever disconnecting this; it was hidden down the firewall almost down by the transmission/ engine connection
--one is branching off right from where the DMM sensor for the windshield washer reservoir is. It too, appears like there is no connection for it to go to. I checked all the adjacent wires around it; found nothing. Thought it may have been the power steering, but it is hooked up. Thought it may have been from the power box or something, but to no avail. It has a layer of oil on the outside of it, and I checked the inner part of where it would have been not exposed to that layer of oil, and it has the same layer on it, which would seem to indicate that it was never hooked up to anything and could have been something that was wired up for a '91 instead of an '89
The only other thing that I did was to delete the A/C and all the hoses and run a dummy pulley (cut off two ribs), but I wouldn't think that would affect anything?
Edit: you know, it's probably gonna be something small and overlooked.
Here's what I've done:
--tightened the heads down to factory specs
--lined the crankshaft timing mark up with the camshaft timing mark (keyways), and put a new timing chain and tensioner on it from Cloyes
--I've torn down/ re-installed the TB/ intake plenum/ supercharger/ return plenum/ intercooling tubes two times before and had made sure that I had hooked up and tightened everything just like I had back then, including gasket maker stuff on all of the intercooler tubing connectors. There was one time that I hadn't tightened the sc top collar nut enough, and the car would start and fire up, but die down right away or idle like crap, and another time, the lower intercooler tube wasn't lined up 100 percent with the intercooler. Same effect; would start, but die right away from no vacuum. So I'm thinking that I can rule that out, because the car should at least fire up, correct?
--the DIS worked fine before the teardown
--I have re-checked all of the spark plug wires at both the spark plugs and coil pack. Everything looks like it is correct
--I'd put the original coil pack on (was otherwise running a Screamin' Demon), and had also made sure that the grounding capacitor was bolted to one of the coil pack bolts, and had re-checked the coil pack electrical connector
--re checked crankshaft sensor; appears to be correct
--set up the camshaft sensor and housing to Ford specs at 26 degrees past TDC on cylinder 1 on the compression stroke (notch in crankshaft lined up with pointer on the block), with (for lack of a better description without posting the official Ford diagram) the sensor essentially pointing to the passenger side headlight (fairly easy to judge, since moving the camshaft position housing gear a notch forward or backwards puts the angle way off); bought a camshaft sensor tool to line it up instead of eyeballing/ ballparking it
--cycled the key on and off several times to prime the fuel pump; I can hear it turn on
--checked the fuel pump reset button in the trunk, just in case it was tripped. It wasn't.
--the battery was toast after sitting for a month with the alarm on (this also drained my Mustang battery and I had to boost it, and it was similarly hesitant to fire up on first start after the install). Wasn't holding a charge, as it would read 12.25 V with an ohmmeter with no accessories on, and would drop to 11.7 immediately with the accessories turned on. Tried to charge it and it still dropped to 9.77 volts on cranking. I had bought a new battery and put it in and it will still crank but not start
--double checked the injector electrical wiring; the wiring has a tag for #1 injector, and from there on out, it's pretty much straightforward, since the wiring harness has short wires for the injectors that (should) make it obvious as to which one goes which
--O2 sensors are hooked up (the only one that I disconnected was the driver's side, and that is definetely re-connected)
--tested all fuses, and they are fine. The fusible link fuses I didn't test yet, though, but visually, none of them seem to be fried
I double checked all the connections for the obvious things--MAF, throttle body (position sensor connector, IAC connector), and all the vacuum connections on the plenums.
One thing I need to clarify is that I had bought some 42 lb injectors from Super Coupe Performance. Not sure what brand they are; just that they're the ones that Bill sells on his site. One thing that I noticed, is that they don't sit in the injector hole like the factory ones do.......there's no "hat" on the injector, where it seats it in there nicely. I had pushed the injectors in as far as they'd go without forcing them, and they seemed snug. Could the problem lie here?
Also, there are two connectors that appear to have no other connection to go to:
--one is a grey connector behind the intake/ return plenum, and appears to have been not connected when I bought the car. My SC is a '91 with an '89 engine, and I'm wondering if this wasn't for something like an EGR. Trying to eliminate problems here, I'd looked at the inside of where the connection would be, and it is dusty, much like everything else along the firewall. You'd think that if it was hooked up, there would be a clear line from where the dusty outer part would be, to a clean and non-dusty one. I don't remember ever disconnecting this; it was hidden down the firewall almost down by the transmission/ engine connection
--one is branching off right from where the DMM sensor for the windshield washer reservoir is. It too, appears like there is no connection for it to go to. I checked all the adjacent wires around it; found nothing. Thought it may have been the power steering, but it is hooked up. Thought it may have been from the power box or something, but to no avail. It has a layer of oil on the outside of it, and I checked the inner part of where it would have been not exposed to that layer of oil, and it has the same layer on it, which would seem to indicate that it was never hooked up to anything and could have been something that was wired up for a '91 instead of an '89
The only other thing that I did was to delete the A/C and all the hoses and run a dummy pulley (cut off two ribs), but I wouldn't think that would affect anything?
Edit: you know, it's probably gonna be something small and overlooked.
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