HELP!!! Truck will not start!!

[1999EXP]

Well, I have found this site very useful in troubleshooting my '99 XLT and I hope that someone can help me out with my '93 Mazda B2200 which will not start. I have tried some of the Mazda sites but have not found any help. There are some very knowledgeable individuals that visit this site and I hope that someone will help me out.

My Mazda is a 2.2L carbed, A/C and manual trans. I had just taken the head off to have a sparkplug thread repaired and when I put her back together it refused to start. I have spark at all cylinders and fuel to all cylinders as well. The engine cranks easily but, just refuses to fire. Any ideas??

 

[trucku]

Maybe timing is off or plugs wires in wrong order?

 

[Robb]

I have spark at all cylinders and fuel to all cylinders as well. The engine cranks easily but, just refuses to fire.

Without the sparking order being out of whack, this is a contradiction in terms.

 

[1999EXP]

Well, I have verified the spark plug order with the Haynes manual. I also have set the engine to TDC and pointed the rotor to the #1 plug but she still refuses to fire. Each spark plug wire has been tested against the valve cover to produce spark and the spark plugs have been replaced. I can smell the starting fluid and fuel on the spark plugs so I think that means the fuel side is OK.

 

[Brian_B]

It has fuel, spark, and the distributor is ligned up. Have you checked to see if it actually has compression after the head was put back on?

 

[1999EXP]

Actually, I have not tested for compression. I seem to have lost my gauge in my move. It seems like you always lose something during the moving process. Maybe I can bum one off the neighbor or Autozone. While I was turning the crank to line it up TDC the cylinders seemed to release pressure as the crank turned so I want to say that the comp is good but, I wil have to test.

 

[trucku]

Release pressure...I thought the TDC was a compression stroke for cylinder 1?
Can someone clarify?

 

[Brian_B]

Not that it makes any difference, but its a 93 with a carb? I thought they stopped using carbs in the early 80s.

I had a distributor turned about half way around on my old ranger once and it would still start. It didn't run very well at all, but it started.

 

[MAXIMIS1]

ya man if you got spark and its occurring in timely order, and you have fuel soaked sparking bolts, then you need to check compression. have someone crank the thing and you put your thumb over hole it should push your thumb off and loudly squirt air past it. this is by no means the correct way as you i am sure know. but if i was in your shoes that is what i would do..

 

[1999EXP]

I was able to perform a comp test and the results are in order 1-4: 59, 49, 49 and 45 psi. According to the Haynes manual they should be a minimum of 121 psi and a standard pressure of 173 psi. It says here these are at 300 rpm. I cranked the engine four times and watched the needle increase gradually with cycle. This baffles me because the engine ran just fine before I removed the head. What can I do now?

 

[Brian_B]

Thats what I thought it might be. Maybe a gasket did not seal or something? I hope nothing is cracked somewhere. I will let these guys give you tips on a repair. I have never had that problem on one.

 

[Robb]

Compression check the other head just to verify your gauge. Your readings seem way off. If you can verify that the other head pressures are close to normal, with the same gauge, then you can show that you definately have a head problem on that side.


A '93 Mazda actually still has a distributor in it?

 

[1999EXP]

Well, the truck is only a 4-cyl with a distributor and carburation to boot. It's a good little truck but she is really giving me a headache as of late. What is my next troubleshooting step?

 

[MAXIMIS1]

you can barrow/rent/a C.L.T. compression leakage tester or leak down tester , this will only pin point the fact that your still going to have to remove the head again. perhaps loosen all the head bolts and re-torque the bolts using the EXACT METHOD EXPLAINED in the book. before removing it again. once you get it off have the machine shop pressure test it cost about 30-50 dollars

 

[1999EXP]

Well, I was able to figure out my problem. In putting the truck back together I did not set it the crank and cam to TDC. It made sense to me that I should be able to put it back together the exact way I took it apart. Anyway, lesson learned and I really appreciate everyones input. Now, I wonder how common the problem with the air bag/wiring harness is?

 

[trucku]

Great to here it....