I've got an 88 305 TPI motor.

I used to run fine however I was loosing oil from the drivers head gasket so decided to do a top end rebuild.

Also fitted Flowmaster headers which removed all the AIR system (still got O2).

This took 5 days, car was indoors and dry.

Timing is correct, firing order is correct and dizzy is not 180 degrees out, got fuel and spark (although a little erratic) but engine will not fire just cranks n floods.

I know I've screwed up the thin black plastic vacuum tubes as they've snapped which made it hard to figure out their routing, but I'm sure that this shouldn't stop the car starting.

I've been unable to find a diagram that details the routing of these tubes, can anyone point me in the right direction of one?

All electrical connections look correct.

Any clues as to what I've done wrong?

Cheers

Matthew

 

this is the vaccum diagram for the 88 305 TPI:




how have you checked for spark and injector firing? have you checked all 8 cyl. with a timing light? and the injectors with a noid light?

if yes, are you sure youre getting fuel to the fuel rails? open the fuel return line, give 12V power to the red connector at the fuel pump relay (then the fuel pump will work), and see if theres coming fuel on the return line - if not, its a bad pressure regulator and because of that you have only air in the fuel rail...

 

Checked spark with timing light.

When it floods all 8 plugs are wet so I know they're getting fuel.

Thanks for the diagram.

Matthew

 

are you trying to start it with disconnected EST bypass connector? (to make sure theres no problem with the timing control by the ECM)

what happens if you open the throttle a bit, while cranking? maybe the IAC Motor is in closed position and the engine gets no air...

 

Nothing happens, got an awesome backfire out of it but that's it.

The only thing that looks amiss is the spark is very weak.

Can replace the coil but it doesn't make sense that it's never had a problem staring before.

I've double checked all the connections and HT leads again but still no joy.

There is a 2 pin cable (a red and a white wire) that plugs into the back of the coil facing the firewall which broke when I unplugged it, I've plugged the pins back in but are unable to verify polarity.

Can someone confirm the polarity (I've put the red one at the top).

Matthew

 

do you have the external coil? like this:



the pink wire comes from the ignition lock and supplies the coil and the distributor with power

the white wire is only for the tachometer

it makes sense, if you have a problem on the pink wire, it can't run. Try to give it power directly from the battery and try to start.

but if it backfires, are you sure the timing is set correct to 6°?

 

probably should have been clearer;

where the vacuum tubes that run from the EGR valve and the thottle body connect to a box which sits on the same bracket as the coil. On the back of this is a 2 pin plug which crumbled as I unplugged it. Don't know what this plug does or its' polarity (red and white wires).

The problem I'm having is that the timing seems completely wrong despite setting the crank to TDC and the dizzy pointing to plug 1.

Gonna plug a whistle into plug socket 1 and find out if the crank and the pistons match up.

Matthew

 

hm, i think it's better you post a pic of the connector you mean

are you talking about the wire from the coil to the distributor?

 

No

There are 2 connections from the coil to the distributor plus the HT lead.

On mine there is an additional connection on the back next to where the vaccum hoses plug in. It's hard to take a picture of it as it's right down the back.

Cheers

Matthew

 

Got the car running, barking up the wrong tree.

I'd set the valve-lash wrong and ended up with no compression.



Still unsure as to the function of the wire near the coil, but the car is running sweet!

Matthew