Newbie w. New GN

[bryes]

Now this may seem like a “dog ate my homework” excuse, but I haven’t been able to post for awhile because my old laptop’s keyboard went bad and I haven’t been able to use the “l” “o” “k” or “i” characters. In the process I’ve developed a new appreciation for the importance of these letters in the English language and since the firewall at work won’t let me access this site, I had to finally break out “ancient” 2001 technology in the form of my old 1 ghz amd “thunderbird” machine.
 
As shown below, the engine is back in the car now and getting close to being fired up.
 
Before installing it I was able to prelube the motor on the stand by hooking the cooler lines up to the radiator as it sat. I prelubed for quite some time before figuring out that my 10 ft length (maybe even 15') of 1/8" id copper tubing was restricting the fluid too much. The gauge took way tool long to register pressure after I felt the drill load up.  I finally hooked up a 6" section of the 1/8” OD tube and was quickly able to read 60 psi of oil pressure  I decided to buy an electric oil gauge to eliminate this issue.
 
The actual installation of the engine wasn’t too bad except for having to remove the front bumper. There is not enough space in my shed to bring the crane in from the side through the wheel well, so I think it was the only option. I only wish I would have removed it at the beginning of the project as that extra space prevents a little more bending over while working in the engine bay I think.
 
Anyway, we’ll see what happens but I’m guessing in the next couple of weeks I’ll be trying to fire it up!

 

[Steve Wood]

hurry up!

[bryes]

 Well the stars have all aligned and the weather has been cool enough that I have finally finished installing the engine and am on the verge of it starting (I hope).  All of the fluids are topped off and the new gauges installed. I have cranked it so far a few times for a couple of seconds and it didn’t fire right up. I noticed that the scamaster showed no rpms while cranking, so I think this is my problem.
I went ahead and replaced the crank sensor today, still no RPM while cranking on the scanmaster. I’m trying to keep cranking the engine to a minimum, so I’d like to know how if I am on the right track and am hoping for good suggestions as usual.  Any help is much appreciated.
Some other issues that I noticed:
1)      I seem to be able to only get about 40 psi of fuel pressure after cranking my regulator almost to its limit. Fuel pump was rumored to be new. Don’t have my hotwire installed yet.
2)      The tps wasn’t set (going to fix that right now actually), voltage slightly high .
3)      The check engine light stays on and the scanmaster seems to have all the necessary readings.
4)      I think maybe the engine temp. reading was way off, I need to 2X check that too. I was just most concerned with the no RPM during cranking.
Let me know if what other information you guys need and I’ll be happy to provide it.
Since I move glacially and probably everyone’s forgotten the rest here is a summary, so you guys don’t have to go digging through the thread.
Mostly still stock.
New 45 injectors,
Matching TT chip.
Spring cleaning.
Rebuilt motor, stock.
206/206 FT cam.
New Crank Sensor, knock sensor, Coil Packs

[Steve Wood]

I would double check to see if the crank sensor is mounted with the blades passing thru the correct slot and then check for spark at a plug and check for injector pulse so you can figure out where to look next

[bryes]

Thanks Steve,
 
I double checked and the crank sensor was mounted in the correct spot and gapped at 0.025" (had to use a piece of my NRA membership card).
On cranking there is no spark and no injector pulse. Also no gas smell after cranking... so I'm certain something is amiss.
What are the next steps?
 
 
 
 

[Steve Wood]

Damn it...where did my answer go??

Read this page  http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/troubshootgeneral.htm

Normally, it will be the crank sensor or the ignition module, or the related wiring when you have neither spark or injector pulse.

Check the ign-ecm fuse and the ccci fuses plus the ecm-sol.  I don't think it is the first or last fuses because you have a check engine light, but check anyway.  Check all the connectors to the crank sensor, cam sensor, and module to be sure that no pin was pushed back or bent over....

You may have to go to the trouble trees...also be sure you connected the orange wire off the battery

[bryes]

Thanks a lot Steve, I'll look into that as soon as I can.
You mentioned a little orange wire that goes to the battery, There's a chance that might be my problem. You see there was a security system that I removed.. or attempted to remove... and I seem to remember it maybe plumbing into that wire. When removing the system, I tried to trace all of the wires down that I could find but I assumed any wires under the hood were siren related.  Anyway I'll have to check it out tomorrow. Can you tell me where it goes or where I may find the wiring diagram on you site?
If that's not it then I'll start going through the troubleshootin g guide tomorrow if I get a chance.
 
Thanks again.
Bryes
 

[Steve Wood]

as you have a check engine light, that is probably not the problem...but, there is a orange fusible link that comes off the battery positive cable at the battery and it has a connector in it about ten inches from the battery post or so...connector makes the connection between the fusible link and the rest of the wire which goes to the ecm....

[bryes]

Well without too much difficulty  I was able to get the car running today. I have to give much credit to the no start tree on Steve's sight,  http://ihadav8.com/forum/VortexBuicks/troubshootgeneral.htm.The first problem of no spark / no injector pulse turned out to be a loose connection at the ignition module. I must have engaged the connector then forgotten to tighten the bolt, and I guess I never pulled on it to make sure it was tight .
Once I found that problem the car still wouldn't start. The injectors were firing, I could smell gas, I could hear the engine firing occasionally, and it would even run a little after the starter was disengaged. But something was off... it sounded like the firing order was wrong. Occasionally it would pop, and buck the starter.  I double checked the wires and they were OK. I started going to the no-start tree again...
I was thinking about the problem last night and remembered (look back to the beginning of the post) that when I took apart the engine the plug wires weren't in the proper order. I remembered the ignition module wire section  and wondered if maybe the wires were hooked up wrong. I had never inspected this before. I removed the coil packs and sure enough the light blue wire was switched with the green. After I switched them back, the car fired immediately.
Below is a picture of the beast, this is the first time she's seen sunlight since January 2012.
 
 
 

[Steve Wood]

Car I bought for my son had the module fail.   I put a new one on and it acted like yours.   Finally figured out the module was not wired properly and the previous owner had played with the plug wires until it ran.

Glad you got it going!  Must be a good feeling

[bryes]

It's definitely a good feeling, it will feel even better when I can get all the bugs out  though!

Even though I was able to start the motor,  I wasn't able to let it run long enough to break in the cam because of acouple of issues.
 The first issue is that the moment it fired the scan master would fade off, so I couldn't tell what RPM it was running at or temps etc. I only have fuel, oil and boost pressure gauges, so I was relying on the scanmaster for everything else. On a related note,  I am pretty sure that the alternator wasn't charging (don't think it was before either), but I never had the chance to put a multi-meter on it. Could this be the issue with the scanmaster?
 
The second issue is that I have a small oil leak at the front cover as shown below. I was getting 75psi at the gauge so I don't think any harm was done. I'll have to look into this problem more, but here is a photo below.
 
All in all the motor ran a little ratty at first, but at speed it seemed to smooth out.  I probably ran it for about 5 minutes at elevated RPM (Estimated 2500 bc of scanmaster not showing) while I was working on things. It smoked like crazy when hot, even when it shut down, bc new paint and never seize on the exhaust.
I'd like to have these issues worked out before attempting to finish break-in, so if anyone has any ideas let me know.

[Steve Wood]

It is broken in...rings seal in the first couple of minutes with modern rings.  Don't know if that was a new flat tappet cam or not, but if it was, then it needed to be broken in on initial start up.

Not sure what was happening with the SM because if it had enuf voltage to run, the SM should work

don't know where the leak is....they often leak around the o ring between the adapter and the housing. 

[bryes]

Yeah, I'm more concerned about the cam which is new, than the rings. I was reading on some cam manufacturers site recently (crane, comp?? don' remember) that if you have to shut down during the break-in, then you should finish it the next time you start. They basically said to bring the RPM up fast, just like the initial break-in and continue on. I don't know, I had to make a decision whether to continue not knowing RPM or temperatures with an oil leak, or shut it down, so I chose to shut it down. It seems like there are a lot of theories on the proper method to breaking in a cam (and rings for that matter), so I tend to think that it might not be as critical as people make it out to be. Then again, I've yet to hear a break-in method that involves shutting down and restarting bunch,  so maybe I should be more concerned than I am   Either way it is what it is. Should the lifters fail then we'll know why!
 
Ok, so good to know that my scanmaster's leds fading is atypical. I used a spade connector in an empty ign. circuit at the fuse box. So maybe I'll try to run power straight from the battery to scanmaster for my next attempt.

 
I remember when I was putting the oil filter adapter together that I wasn't happy with the o-ring you are describing. So when I looked at it as the engine was running, I was expecting that to be the problem, but it looked more to me like it was seeping from the gasket right there where the arrow is, right in the middle of the bolts. I'm pretty sure those are tight, but I do have a history of leaving bolts loose.
 
 
 
 
 
 

[Steve Wood]

If you ran it 25 minutes, it should be fine.  It helps to keep the rpm at least 2500 and to blip the throttle  every minute or so to about 3000 to splash more oil.  Normally our cams don't use super stiff springs so it is an easier process.

The fuse block should be fine for the SM...something else is going on..have not seen one fade...my problems are always binary.  It works, or it does not

[daveismissing]

How old is your scanmaster? I have a 2 year old one that did that, would work about 5 minutes, then fade out. A tantalum cap was backwards when built