So I then pulled the coil, ohmed it, checked + and - and both are good. I tried to check for a pulse from ecu and got something but it's really hard to make out on a digital multimeter. It matched cyl 4's pulse so I assume it's good. I took an ohm reading of the wires from the ecu to PTU and they all match so I am assuming that the wiring between the ecu and PTU is good. PTU ohmed good as well.

Checked compression and the comp is good, it is below spec but cyl's 2 and 4 matched so I assume between the overbore pistons and new, unseated rings that this is acceptable. Plugs are brand new and plug 2 comes out wet from fuel.

So, today I am going to swap the coils from cyl's 1 and 2 and see what happens. Then I'll swap the PTU's if the coil turns out good.

Anyone ever have a bad coil that ohmed good? PTU?

If the coil swap doesnt help, then check compression on that cyl. Bad question, but oil is not milky, and water looks good too right?

I totally forgot I have a brand new set of noids in my toolbox. Duh. lol

I'll check plug and use noid and possibly swap coils, it will depend on how pissed off I am at that point.

This stuff is frustrating isn't it. I was so jealous when I saw how easily the coil packs are accessed on LS1s and such. I hate taking out 4 bolts that are hard enough to get to just to get to the plugs.

Why not try taking off the #2 cylinder coil, hook up an old spark plug wire to one end, plug a spark plug into the other and see if it sparks on the chassis?

I remember reading a random post by Q45tech a while back talking about bad coils. It sounds like it's not a common issue but they do go bad occasionally. Not easy to diagnose a bad one either. Sounds like they normally just replace them and see if it helps from what I remember.

Anyways, after getting it back together, no spark. I diagnosed for 2 days and the only thing I can come up with is the coil. Should read 12-15k ohms and is only reading 9k. I guess I'm about to throw an $80 coil in it and see if that fixes it. Stupid dsm engine has an auto-shutdown relay that took over a day to diagnose.

I am supposed to be enjoying this ****! lol

So after diagnosing everything I bent all of the female connections so that just in case it had a bad connection I could eliminate it. Then when hooking my MAF back up I over tightened the clamp and....yup.

So I figured WTH and left the maf open from the filter. A little dirt won't hurt it. I go to start it and it turns over like 4 times and GRRRAZZZDFGGERESSSAZZZZZZZZZZ.

Apparently my starter is shimmed too far, not enough and broke or the bolts came loose. AAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

If it makes you feel any better I've done absolutely everything you've done trying to diagnose a dead cylinder on my slicktop... no luck at all. I think it's the injector... ugh.

Thanks for that tidbit tech! I'll pull it today and see what's up. (fingers crossed).

The reason for the screw up lies on the chain itself. Mine doesn't have any distinguishing silver links on it so I counted links. Works great, except for the fact that I didn't have the crank at true TDC. I hope this is my problem.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll post when I find out what's up with the drivers side. Flying to florida tomorrow for an interview so maybe this weekend I'll get to hammer this baby!!!

I'm kind of bummed though because I lost that cool loping sound it used to have, sounded like it was cammed. Oh well, cams will solve that once we can source them.

Got the rad in and plumbed up, another day and we'll be burning them down properly. Vids to follow!

Great news! Now go have fun with it!

then something in the engine let go and it's trashed. don't know what happened yet but i'm leaning towards an oiling issue. I have no idea, i don't even want to look at it right now. I just got a job in miami and am moving next weekend so i don't have the time or patience to **** with it right now.

I think i'm just going to park it for a while. Once I get on my feet and get a nice bankroll going I'll get back into it. The tranny was popping out of 4th too so for now I think I'm just going to slowly invest into a low mileage tt trans with adapter, and another engine with a rebuild, build by someone who knows what they're doing. Jeff, you may be getting my Z sooner than expected. lol

I'm so sick to my stomach right now...

I hope it's only something minor but you sound pretty confident that the engine is no good. Keep us updated once you find the time to tear into it. I'll help if I've got any spare parts you can use. I feel the same way on my project all the time. I was so sick of working on mine it has been parked for a month while I search for another car as a daily driver. Then my VH Pathfinder can be a toy and not a daily driver.

I figure once I get some money I'll bring it down to fla and go from there. Mazworx is a few hours away and it would probably benefit both myself and their company to be able to help me build a new oil pan, motor mounts and possibly some head or cam work. I'll be travelling 90% of the time so if it sits for a couple years then so be it. At least I get some good work and they get some measurements to make more swap parts if they like.

You should've heard this thing though, it was such a rush to drive! It accelerated like a freight train and just kept pulling no matter what speed you were at. I couldn't really feel the speed because it sits so low to the ground and handled curves like it was on rails. I can't imagine what it's going to handle like with the suspension dialed in and some good meats on it.

Many dealer techs are lazy and get into trouble with chain guides or just replacing front seal. German Gut N Tighten doesn't cut it..always measure.

I losen mine and retighten every 60k.....................now at 18.5 years and 319k.

I was going to suggest you check injector plug. I had that problem with a brand new plug (3 months old). Took it off, clean it, packed it with electric grease and refitted. In the process one pin got pushed up and gave an intermittent miss! Took a bit to find it and the normal manifold removal in a muddy paddock!!!!!!

I forgot that you made the hybrid oil pan. Did you ever check clearance between the oil pickup and pan?

Hopefully Mazworx will take it on and I can kick back and enjoy it after they handle everything. My new job will allow me the luxury of being able to pay someone else to finish the car.

It's funny because after I broke down I was in S. Norfolk, pretty shady part of town. I was there from about 9:30pm until 2:15am waiting on a tow. I had lost my cell on my last interview in Miami. Great fun. I was really leaning towards selling it and thought "what would I buy...a 350Z?" Honestly after a while there isn't a car in mind that I would rather have, next to the GTR of course.

Live and learn I guess, I have to rely on the fact that this is how things were meant to be and it's all for a reason in the long run. That philosophy has helped me through some tough times and things always work out in the end.