Outer Limits 4x4 Board

guys i can not get my sierra to start.....

its an 91 soft top 1.3 carby i have taken peoples advice and put it to work but has not been successful!!!

i have tried...

- drying the spark plugs from fuel on them
- rotated the engine while plugs where out to clear gunk out
- checked that plugs have spark
- checked that leads are firing in right order
- checked all wiring, earth points..
- battery has charge
- moving the dizzy while crankin the engine to get it started
- push starting
- spraying "START YA BARSTARD" NULON INSTANT ENGINE STARTER
- checked that fuel is reaching the carby (it does)


and thats about all i can remember i did

i now can not think of why it wont start and this all happened when i swaped the hardtop body for a soft top - removing the wiring harness and re-fitting after the body swap..


is there anyone who lives in or can venture out to Capalaba to have a look at my sierra as to why it wont start???

please let me know asap because i really wanna get to the bottom of this


cheers, everyone - islandvit

Has it got spark at the plugs?

yep, checked them individually, took em out got a mate to crank the engine n i held it on the engine block and they all have spark...

and its got fuel goin to the carby and still wont start...

If you have fuel and spark it must be a timing problem.
Does it backfire at all?

nope doesnt back fire at all??? it just rotates over and over but refuses to start

Ummmmm...
If you bring it here I'll get it going for you!.... lol.

If it was wetting the plugs it must be getting fuel into cylinders.
If it has spark thats a good sign.
If it just spins over not firing I'm still inclined to think timing.

Did you have distributor out at all?

Turn it over until the mark in the front pulley lines up with the 0 degrees mark on the timing cover....
Now pull the distributor cover off and check that the rotor button is pointing to the number 1 plug lead.
If it is then timing should be close enough to fire at least.
If it is pointing the other way turn the engine over once and check again.

AIR , FUEL , SPARK , COMPRESSION

you are missing 1 of them /..

Might sound silly. But have you snapped the timing belt?

suzimad wrote:AIR , FUEL , SPARK , COMPRESSION

you are missing 1 of them /..

You need more than just those 4..
You also need timing.

hey thanks for the replies guys

im confident i havnt snapped the timing belt, i did the dizzy check - i rotated the engine with a spanner on the pulley BUT i lined it up with the 8 degree mark on the timing cover and checked the dizzy - it lined up with the number 1 lead so its correct right?

Do you have the coil wires around the right way? ie pos to + and neg to -

didnt remove them so they are right...

man its fustrating all i did was mark and remove the wiring harness to swap the bodies over and re-fit it n now it wont start

try cranking you engine over 1 full rotation and setting the leads up fron number 1 what ever lead you rota button is pointing at. happend to me last week with the engine i rebuilt, i put the leads on the wrong and no back fire, didn't start but had fuel, spark and timing set at 0 btdc just on the exhaust stroke.

swapped the leads round and started 1st go.

Ash R33 wrote:Might sound silly. But have you snapped the timing belt?

If he'd snapped his timing belt, he'd have no spark, but thats not to say the belt hasn't jumped a tooth. But heres something else to throw a spanner in the works. Have you actully checked the fuel quality??? Pump some into a glass container and check the colour and odour. Is it possible any water got in there during the body change?? Or you may have just picked up a tank of crap fuel. If you're feeling confident pour a bit on the concrete away from anything that may ignit and try and light it, but I do stress, don't blow yourself up.

hey i had a similar problem but i didnt du a body swap

did u take off the spark leads
if so u mite have them in the wrong order, even though the dizzy cap says they go to the numbers it mite be wrong

hey thanks for the replies guys, no i havnt checked the fuel i was going to today buh didnt get time too, i dont think i would of got water in the fuel during the swap though but isnt that what mistakes are - NOT knowing what you have done (done plenty) . so i will check fuel quality tomoro morning thanks as for the leads it confuses me because it was running beautiful before i did the body swap, i did the ingition timing, put new plugs, leads, fuel filter, oil ect and it ran sooo good!!!

after the body swap when i put the wiring harness back in it wldnt start!! in the process of the swap i didnt remove the lead at all!!! today i removed them but was pretty sure i put them in the correct order

but will double check tommoro morning along with fuel quality

thanks heaps fellas

cheers, islandvit

Shame you are so far away or I'd come and sort it for you..
Surely someone on here is SE Bris ?????