Engine cranks but won't turn over... I have fuel and spark.

[unfrgivn]

I recently finished wiring up my car from scratch and I am now having a few difficulties getting the engine to turn over even though it should.

I think the problem lies somewhere in my fuel system. When I supply the fuel pump power, it continues to pump as long as i feed it power. Shouldn't the pump stop once the system pressurizes or am I mistaken here? I can hear the fuel cycling through the rail, past the regulator, and into the return line continuously and I can feel fuel flowing through both fuel lines.

Just in case the stock system shuts the fuel pump off after a few seconds, I tried flipping it on for a sec and then off and tried to start, but once again the engine just cranks.

I have spark at all 4 coil packs, the engine is a "new" used engine with perfect compression, and I know everything is hooked up correctly as I have done many SR swaps.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[180fan]

the fuel pump should stop when fully pressurized. check your fpr.

[s13sr20chris]

its a timer circuit in the ecm. you are thinking of the newer type returnless systems. ecm just runs pump for like 5 secs after key on. it will keep it on during cranking or running though.

[unfrgivn]

i checked the timing and replaced my FPR and same exact problem. Fuel keeps cycling through the line and it won't turn over.

Any more ideas?

[unfrgivn]

oh sorry didn't see your post... so I guess i can leave the fuel pump on with my switch until it starts, but i can't get it started. Like I said I have spark, the ignitor chip is good, the ECU has power (obviously if there is spark).

[unfrgivn]

I checked timing one more time and now it started doing something different. The car will crank for 1 second healthy sounding and then sound like it's getting stuck and dying and then go back to sounding healthy and repeat. The battery is fine and I had it hooked up to another car as well to make sure. I also took my egt sensor out of the exhaust manifold and I when I tried cranking again there was some black smoke coming out of the manifold.

Does this ring any bells?

[s13sr20chris]

sounds like you are getting some kind of combustion going on.

heres what we are looking at.

fuel pump never cuts off if you leave key on without cranking. this could be ecm related, fuel pump relay related, or some other less likely stuff like wiring.

fuel and spark still no start.this could be timing off(valve timing or ign timing). bad fuel pressure or volume. lack of compression.

do this...pop off fuel pressure line(the one on the fuel filter) and get someone to turn key to the "on" position. you hold a 1 liter coke bottle under the line and catch the gas. tell me how long(in seconds) it took to catch the gas, what the gas looked like, and which end of the hose it came out of. then reinstall.

check compression(disable spark and fuel by unpluging dist connectors).

then report back and i will work with you from there.

[slipnfall]

If the pump is priming but not stopping, it won't keep you from starting. Sounds like another electrical issue(either signal from ECU or fuel pump relay sticking). Given you have proper pressure at the rail:are you getting fuel from your injectors? Pull a plug, see if it's flooding. When starting the ECM should fire the injectors simultaneously, then switch to sequential once started. You can test your crank-angle sensor by pulling the distrib and rotating the shaft by hand with key->ON. Each injector should click and dispense fuel.

Also double check you aren't off a tooth on the distrib, and your plug wires (or cap)aren't swapped around.

[unfrgivn]

No longer getting that sputter, it just cranks like normal.

I just set the timing one more time...

Valve cover off, spark plugs out, 1st piston at TDC (double checked with a stick), Timing chain had shiny link down at the crank and two shiny links up on the cam gears so it should be on the compression stroke (correct?). Placed the CAS in as shown in the FSM, put everything back together. Changed the plugs, gapped them to .028, tried to start the car again and it just cranks.

I did the fuel pressure thing and I filled 700mL in 8 seconds. The gas looked normal, yellowish-clear. Not dirty or anything.

I checked compression and I got 158 across the board.

[unfrgivn]

SR20DET, no distributor.

Also the fuel pump should be staying on, I am manually turning it on via a switch. I mentioned that in the first post I did the car's wiring harness from cratch. Basically I have to leave the switch on until the car starts.

[s13sr20chris]

if you made the harness then i would recheck that. you know what they say about stuff you been fiddling with.

[unfrgivn]

Well if I am correct there is very little interaction between the car harness and the engine harness. The ignition system which is fine b/c the starter is working properly and the ecu gets all it's power from the plugs near the battery tray which are hooked up correctly and the ignition start signal (orange wire) from dash is also hooked up.

All the other harness stuff is for lights, signals, horn, gauges, fan, wipers, etc...

[s13sr20chris]

ah, you did not do the engine harness?

well, if you have compression, and spark then you have two options. they are fuel and timing.

try spraying starting fluid in the intake and see if she starts. that will isolate it as a fuel problem.