Hi, well I rebuilt my tranny and put it back in all in about 3 weeks( i know sort of a long time but yea) and everything when in ok and right. Today i finished up the tranny put the fluid in and was all excited to hear the motor run, when i crank, NOTHING! I checked the spark, it has spark, checked if it was getting fuel, its getting fuel. It cranks but doesnt start, sometimes does a little backfire and thats it. What could be the problem, my friends are saying its the timing but it cant be the distributor is really tight and was at good timing. I really need this car running, it ran super good before the tranny rebuild and I even left it for about a month without starting and it still cranked up fine.

This is on my L98 by the way.

Did you check the ground wires/strap on the back of the block. I cant remember if it is bolted to the head or bell housing bolt.

Checked the grounds, there was one that went from the engine to the firewall that was like a thin metal looking one and then from that point that it was bolted to the firewall was another 4 gauge wire that was grounded to nothing. I grounded it, and it does the same thing. Still doesnt start.

i know you said the timing is good... but i would pull off the cap and make sure its right. my buddy had a bad flywheel and when he replaced it the car wouldnt start; turns out the car was running with such wacky timing that when it was fixed the timing was so far off it wouldnt run at all.

since its an auto what about the neutral safety switch?

id suggest the dizzy man. if the pickup coil isnt working then the ecm doesnt know when to fire. id check to see if maybe your distributor is pointing to 1terminal with the engine crank at TDC. sometimes it can be pointing at 6 cylinder terminal(180*). next check the ground to the fuse box for injectors. Basically, its most likely timing problem. maybe check the fuel pressure, but the Distributor's components were the main cause of my (no start problem for years)

The coil is working perfectly, and the timing stayed the same the dist. didn't move. I am trying to find different ground points. But it is getting spark, thats what has me all confused.

Oh and its getting plenty of fuel.

theres two coils, im talking about the pickup coil. its under the ignition control module. i had a brand new Main coil, ignition control module, condenser, the works, in the end my no start problem was the pickup coil, it had broken the permanent magnet in 6 spots. the ecm was randomly firing. and also, just for fun, verify that its at tdc with rotor pointing to #1 terminal. And, not the #6terminal, check plug wires and yep. i know how you feel, i had a no starting car for 2 1/2 years. everyday waking up cursing and just the that feeling of being on the brink of getting her started. sigh

Is this what you are talking about?

yeah! i got mine from autozone. mine is mexico made, YEE haw. I had to remove the whole distributor, i remove all the parts off it and knockd out the roll pin in the gear assembly on the distributor., i pull off the distributor's gear and slid the distributor's inner shaft out and then removed the pickup coil. its a lot of work, and i recommend a new roll pin each time but not required. if you do perform this procedure, make sure your rotor it in the same place as when you took the dizzy out. be careful with the ignition control module, use the special white ignition control module thermo grease and not spark plug wire grease. im skipping around, if you got any other questions then shoot them our way man. oh and if since youd be having your ignition control module out already if you mild rebuild the dizzy, then get the module testd at autozone, dont let them man handle it. ill tell you that have a breakerless dizzy is awesome, until an autozone idiot, throws it or drops it, happened to me, man those guys have it easy working there.

Did you let the motor tilt when you took the trans out? Maybe the cap hit the firewall and cracked? Unpluged wire going to the ignition control module?

Go back and check anything you disconnected while pulling the trans.

Yea everything is connected and cap is perfectly fine. I think that pickup coil is my best bet. I will be picking it up tonight. And tomorrow the labor begins, again lol!

thats chill, ill cross my fingers.., although the pickup coil maybe bad, maybe...but it could be a silly thing, like a maladjusted neutral safetly switch, or something soooo small linkage adjustment.. but typically, a car will start even if everything else is messed up. try to ponder some more until tomorrow labor. and remember SPARK< AIR> FUEL. three basics, good luck man.

Thank you for all the help I really appreciate it and I hope it is that...its just so weird because before the tranny rebuild the motor ran perfect. I had it even parked for about a month and when i went to start it, started up in less than a second! So I find it weird how it just randomly doesnt start now after the tranny was dropped then put in.

i got a theory. if when you bolted the tranny to engine, didnt you have to turn the crank shaft to get the tranny bolts to engine in the holes.? sometimes when the dizzy is taken out, the timing position is lost. so ya, when you do pull your cap off, it wouldnt hurt to check to see if at tdc the rotor is pointing to the #1 terminal. peace

Hmmm that one made me think...but it wouldnt make a difference...the dist. was always on, i did spin the carnk so i can bolt up the torq converter but it shouldnt of gotten off timing.

Ok i went ahead and got a new control module since it was an easy job...and yea that was NOT the problem. The plug that goes to it on the inside(from the pickup coil) was pretty beat up so it looks like ima have to do that pickup coil job ugh.....can it be done with the dist. inside the car?