2.7 engine will turn over but not start

I recently did an engine swap in my 1999 2.7. The engine I put in has 20,000 original miles and has been sitting for a while. Once I tried to crank it it kept turning over and over with but will not crank. I am getting gas to the engine and have spark. Anyone got any any ideas what could be causing it not to crank?

 

You need fuel, spark, timing and compression for engine to fire and run. How are timing and compression?

 

Pull a plug and see if it is wet from fuel.
Fuel to the engine doesn’t mean it’s going in the engine.
Make sure the crank and cam sensors are plugged in.

Are you showing any engine codes?

 

I removed all spark plugs and noticed that none were wet except #3 I then tried turning over engine slightly to see if any fuel comes out and it only sprays out of #3. So possibly stopped up injectors. Would I be better trying to possibly clean them or just replace the whole set?

 

fresh new gasoline

 

Drained all the fuel I could at the beginning and ran fresh gas through line before hooking it up. The old gas was pretty nasty...

 

They are not easily cleaned.
Most consider them a replacement part.
I think @Taco’99 had his cleaned and reconditioned.

Here is a recent post on the subject.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cranks-but-wont-start-help.650491/page-3


I’d be sure you have power and ground to all the injectors first.
No need to buy new ones if they can’t be “told what to do”.

 

Update on what I did, and problems I’m having now. I pulled fuel injectors. All I had at the time was a battery charger to test and see if each would possibly turn on. As I did this only number three turned on instantly. I held power on each one and eventually they freed up and started shooting fuel through them. I reinstalled them and the truck instantly started but does run pretty rough. I’m not sure if it’s because the engine has sat so long. Or if I’m still having fuel problems. Any ideas?

 

Thanks for the update...glad you could get it running. Were you able to allow it to run long enough to go into closed loop (a couple of minutes)? If so, did the running condition improve, worsen or stay the same? This information may shed a little light on the condition of the mass air flow and pre-catalyst oxygen sensors.

 

Thanks for the update.
I honestly haven’t test Injectors myself.
My understanding is Flow Testing is the best way to test them.
There may be other ways to do it. But personally have no experience in it.

Maybe some of the other members here can help you.

 

The fuel you drained, was it from your tank or the new engine? What was wrong with your previous engine? How many years was your new engine inoperable?

Gas can gum things up when sitting for a long period of time. The injectors might be clogged. If it has the original fuel filter, that might be gummed up as well.

 

Sorry for such the long wait on a reply. This truck is a weekend project so it’s going at a slow pace.

The answer To your questions Falkor1 is I drained old fuel from engine and tank before I put new fuel in. Also I bought this truck off a guy and the engine was completely locked up. My family used to rebuild these trucks all the time and we had this engine out of an old parts truck. It has sat in the dry out of the truck I would say probably 20-21 years and never moved honestly. I knew there would be issues because of the sitting for so long but imjust trying to work through them.

As of today I have put new spark plugs, new spark plug wires, new coil packs, and a new mass airflow sensor. I also went ahead and pulled the trigger on new injectors because I figured the old ones were probably causing issues.

Since then the truck actually ran pretty decent but still rough, and had a small backfire. Hearing the backfire I did a pressure test on all cylinders and came up with these numbers. 190 lbs on cylinders 1&2. 200 lbs on number 3. Then sadly 0 on number 4.

when checking number 4 as we turned the engine over there was a large popping noise that happened inside the engine. I’m not 100% sure what it was or what to do. I thought maybe a valve is open or something serious is wrong. Any ideas on what to do?

 

pull the valve cover and as you have someone crank the motor over verify that all the valves go down and come back up to the same height. One could be stuck open... hopefully it is that simple. If there is a valve that is hung open you are going to have to determine why... is it rusted in that position or is it bent. For the next tests there are a couple of options. If you have a air compressor you can do a leak down test* to determine exactly where the compression is going or for a small dollar amount you can buy and endoscope that you can snake in through the the spark plug hole to see what is going on. The backfire you are hearing is an intake valve that is open during a combustion cycle.

* requires a special tool that may or may not be available for rent at the local auto parts store. If the tool isnt available then if you can make, beg borrow or steal an adapter for you air compressor fitting to a spark plug thread you can do a ghetto leak down test... limit the air pressure to a few pounds of pressure and listen at the oil cap, the intake manifold and the exhaust pipe. If you put too much volume or pressure in the motor you will blow out every oil seal in the motor... now you have 2 problems.

if a valve is stuck and isnt bent then your next step depends on you. I would take the offending camshaft out and put a rag over the problem spring and with a plastic hammer tap on the offending valve to see if it pops back. If you hit it too hard or too fast there is a small possibility that the spring retainer and clips will come off and now you are chasing parts in the driveway.

If after all of this and the valve wont snap back you are going to have to take the head off.

the injectors mist fuel into the intake runner. If yours squirts and sprays a solid stream you are going to need new injectors. Maybe they can be cleaned, maybe not.

 

Thanks for the info! I will try that out this weekend.

I ended up buying new injectors. The old ones weren’t misting. They never worked right to begin with. I figured I better just buy them now instead of going around the real issue.

 

Well I took the valve cover off and found the valve in the very back that was stuck down. I didn’t remove the camshaft because I was able to get a small screw driver on each side and slightly tap it. Eventually it came back up and I turned it over a few times to make sure it was still working.

I then put the truck back together and now the stupid thing won’t start. I’m getting fuel spark and compression on everything.

I need any help or ideas I can get at the moment.

 

After waiting about an hour of letting the truck sit I tried to crank it again and it started right up. I guess it had flooded itself somehow. It runs like new now. And keeps getting better as it warms up. Thank you to everyone for the help I wouldn’t have know what to do without it.

 

This is great news man! Glad to hear it!