I just put a 302 5.0L motor into my 95 F-150. The motor was previously in an accident where the truck flipped. The oil was a little gunky and had a little water in it, from not having spark plugs for a brief time. The engine turns but doesn't start, I checked a spark plug and I'm getting spark, I checked the fuel pressure and it's good. I sprayed starting fluid into the air filter and throttle body and still nothing. Any ideas people?

 

Do a compression test on the cylinders. There may be rust in the cylinders or on the rings causing no compression. If there is compression, check timing.

 

I just checked the compression and this is what I got
Cylinder compression

8- 95
7-170
6- 155
5-100

4-190
3-130
2-140
1-160

It looks to me like I have a compression problem, what's the next step now

 

You didn't tear down the engine knowing its been in an accident? Take off the heads.

 

Should still start with that compression. First thing comes to mind is timing and plug wire routing. What's the motor out of?

 

I didn't think to tear down the engine, I thought it would be fine, the engine is out of the same truck it's in a 95 f150. I put this engine in my old truck and then got in an accident and it only had 1,000 miles on it.

 

Well that's enough compression to start so distributer 180 out, wires off by one on the cap maybe. That's the direction I'd go. Probably something simple.

 

I removed the distributor cap and it was off. now the engine starts but doesn't stay running long. sparks also come from the headers and smoke its smoking. im going to fine tune the timing with a light but the smoke scares me.

 

I figured since the exhaust was off id take off the intake. Once I took off the intake the engine stayed idling. I'm still wondering about the smoke when the engine heats up,and I still need to adjust the timing right.