95 cranking but not starting

I bought my first tacoma as my first truck and I am supper happy with my purchase but I was driving it around and I parked it and got up to go to school the next day and it cranked but didn't start. It is a 1995 and has 260 thousand miles on it. Me and my dad were working on it and watching some videos and we thought it was the crank shaft position sensor. We order a new one and after waiting a while we got to part we put it in a tried to start it and it didn't start it has air, fuel spark so I am just confused and need a little bit of help

 

Are you 100% sure you have Spark and Fuel?
What test did you do to confirm these?

You need Air, Fuel, Compression, and Spark for the engine to run.
Going off your info, you are down to compression. But compression issues don't generally happen over night.

I'm leaning towards a fuel or ignition issue, until we confirm air/fuel was checked correctly.

 

Yeah I checked the fuel pump by un hooking the fuel line and had my dad turn it over and gas came out so we new that the fuel pump is working. Then to check spark I took the spark plug out and put the spark plug in the boot and put it on a peace of metal and had my dad turn it over and there was spark. But also I forgot to mention this in my first post it was like lugging out and it had a lack of power before it didn't start

 

Do you have the ability to check it for codes?
Do you have a scan tool?
Is the Check Engine Light On?

 

Yeah we scand it and ther was no codes
No check engine light
But also the rpm needle isn't moving when I try to start it

 

The truck doesn't know when to send fuel or spark with out a crank signal.
Kind of surprised it even turned the fuel pump on. Maybe the early trucks didn't use a crank signal to start fuel. The newer ones need a crank signal before they will even start the pump.

Anyways, we need to focus on the crank (RPM) signal.
I bet the injectors aren't firing without a crank signal.
Easy test would be to "puff" a bit of gas or starting fluid in the intake while cranking.
Don't give it too much, just enough to see if it "wants" to start.

Really be nice to see live data and RPM signal while cranking. (I don't always trust the tach in the dash)

 

BTW, What engine are we working with?

2.4, 2.7, or 3.4?

 

Something worthy of checking is the open circuit relay...that works hand and hand with the crank sensor and ecm to provide steady pump power.......and super easy to check...

when these get real old glue or something starts to melt out of the two coils above the connector gumming it up...

Its worth pulling out and using contact cleaner and checking continuity

 

It is a 3.4

 

How should I check for compression

 

With a compression tester.

But again. I think the issue is likely related to no RPM signal.

I'd try the "starting fluid" check first.
Spray some starting fluid or gas directly into the intake and see if the truck wants to start.

 

So I did put some stating fluid in the intake and I didn't want to start
Then I checked the circuit opening relay and everything looks to be fine with that

 

Are you sure your am1 and am2 fuse is good...

and there is the o swap the relays around trick
swap the efi one with any like one....


On these pre 97's ....if it aint obvious, most/lot of times it ends up being a something under the distributor cap

 

Odd that you have spark, and that you can manually introduce fuel into the cylinders and nothing.

 

Check to see if either of the camshafts are turning... kind of sounds like the cam belt let go.

 

How can I check to see if they are turning

 

If the fuel pump came on then the COR was working

 

So I was curious this morning to see if it was going to start and so I tried to start it and it ran for like half a second

 

We need to go back to what we know.

1. You have spark.
2. You have fuel at the fuel line.
3. You can spray fuel into the intake an it will NOT try to fire.
4. The Tachometer does NOT move.
5. No scan tool to conform there is or isn't a crank signal.

What we don't know

1. Is timing correct?
2. Do we have compression?

Still, You say you have spark. But yet, spraying fuel into the intake makes no difference.
Still questioning the crank signal.

At this point, i guess you are left with a compression test and verifying timing.
But the lack of RPM signal on the tach still has me subspinous.

 

Can you bypass the crank sensor by providing a constant ground to the open circuit....
basically hot wiring the fuel pump...