coderdan

My 1993 F150 was running fine but with 250K miles all the seals were leaking badly--so I decided to rebuild it. It took me over 8 months (we had a baby), but I finally got it all put back together!

But she won't start. It cranks and cranks but doesn't even sound close to starting (no sputtering or backfiring).

Here is what I know:

• Spark is present at the plugs.
• Fuel is present and pressurized at the fuel rail. (unsure of PSI yet).
• I can hear the fuel pumps engaging.
• Initially wired the plugs backwards assuming a clockwise rotation; I corrected this after realizing my mistake but I had fired the engine a few times already.
• I've set timing to TDC on #1 and rest the distro to the proper location
• Compression tested on 3 cylinders so far is around 120 (will test the remaining when time allows)
• Tried rotating distro 180 degrees to see if I had timed everything to the exhaust stroke--still no firing or sputtering.
• Pulled plugs: they looked wet and smelled like gas; #5 was seriously blackened, others looked better.
• The computer is throwing codes 21, 24, 25, 95, 96

Since this was my first V8 build, I wonder if I ****ed up the cam, lifters, or valvetrain install bad enough that the valves are not moving well? But then how would I be getting compression?

Please help me get this beast started!

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

Compression stroke, up to 10 deg BTDC. Dist rotor should be pointing at #1 on the cap.
Little bump on the dist shaft should be lined up with sensor on the PIP. That should get it to start.
Unplug the SPOUT connector, set timing to 10 degrees BTDC. Reinstall SPOUT connector.

coderdan

Problem solved. The root cause was me failing to read the timing marks correctly on the harmonic balancer. I thought that the groove was the 0 mark--I'm an idiot.

She is running beautifully despite my ignorance, which is nice!

poptop

you rebuilt a motor got it running plus had a kid. good job i dont know to many idiots that could pull that off.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

For what it's worth, I did that once upon a time too. I'll never do it again and neither will you. Glad you got it purring.