Acalero2000
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Hoping I can get some help,
I have a 2000 oldsmobile alero 3.4 vin E, my friend and I recently replaced a bunch of bad parts and Replaced the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets. I helped do this job before on a similar 3.1 and between my friend and I we felt confident enough to attempt this. We've gone over everything and still can't get the car to start so I'm hoping for some help with troubleshooting some issues before we start to dig into going down to the intake gasket to see what we possibly did wrong.
Before the rebuild the car ran but was leaking coolant through the lower intake manifold gasket,the leak was identified when we broke it down. We flushed coolant before the rebuild. All censors and parts that were throwing codes or bad we replaced so not sure what the issue could still be.
This is the list of parts we replaced -
New Lower intake manifold gasket - Torqued bolts to spec, cleaned everything, rtv and seated the lower intake, new bolts
We were really careful with the pushrods, and were pretty sure the valves were good when we seated the manifold
Valve cover gaskets
Replaced o-rings on the fuel injectors and cleaned them well.
Replaced oil pump drive oring
New thermostat
New coolant temperature sensor
EGR gasket
Upper intake gasket, cleaned and torqued properly. No damage to the plenum.
New spark plugs and wires, firing pattern is correct, and the plugs are gettin spark. Coil packs are good and cleaned and connected properly
New alternator, plugged in and grounded properly
New water pump
New Radiator coolant hoses, new coolant
New MAF sensor, old one was throwing a code - and cleaned the air intake/box and new gaskets
Oil change - New oil, filter
Everything looks good, no leaks or other issues. I've had a couple people look it over and they agree, all the sensors have been cleaned and connected, all the hoses and lines are correct, we labeled everything and it's all been gone over, looks good.
I reset the computer as I read in some instructions by turning the key and pressing the gas pedal, it seems like relays fired after that, the anti theft light is blinking like normal.
All fuses seem to be good, There's spark and we've checked over the coils plugs and wires multiple times.
There's plenty of fuel pressure, we've checked at the rail and done pressure tests and it's good.
Checked timing and everyting should be good there
No codes are being thrown currently.
When we try to start the car the starter is working great it cranks, battery is not too old and it's got enough juice no issue there. When it cranks there's some sputtering but it never seems to catch and fire. We tried using starting fluid and still couldn't get a fire even spraying some into the intake. It sounds like it's so close to starting but just wont, it really sounds like it wants to but it just never catches. We only get a small bit of smoke, sputtering, cough. It does sound like there is some air / coughing so we were wondering if something happened seating the lower intake or if it may have been over tightened. This is our only thought at the moment - there may be air leaking or might have to reseat the lower intake manifold.
At this point we've tested everything we can think of at the moment, tried to read codes but it hasn't thrown anything new.
My only other thought was something either computer related, or an issue with the crankshaft position sensor. I was told that if the CPS was bad that there may not be spark though so I'm not sure if that could be an issue??
Any ideas or suggestions on what to test or troubleshoot would be great. I can get pictures of anything if it's helpful, or if more details are needed I can elaborate. Were really stuck here and I'm just trying to think of anything we could do that we may have forgotten / overlooked. Like said, our next option is to take everything off down to the lower intake and go from there, reseating the gasket.
Thanks
I have a 2000 oldsmobile alero 3.4 vin E, my friend and I recently replaced a bunch of bad parts and Replaced the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets. I helped do this job before on a similar 3.1 and between my friend and I we felt confident enough to attempt this. We've gone over everything and still can't get the car to start so I'm hoping for some help with troubleshooting some issues before we start to dig into going down to the intake gasket to see what we possibly did wrong.
Before the rebuild the car ran but was leaking coolant through the lower intake manifold gasket,the leak was identified when we broke it down. We flushed coolant before the rebuild. All censors and parts that were throwing codes or bad we replaced so not sure what the issue could still be.
This is the list of parts we replaced -
New Lower intake manifold gasket - Torqued bolts to spec, cleaned everything, rtv and seated the lower intake, new bolts
We were really careful with the pushrods, and were pretty sure the valves were good when we seated the manifold
Valve cover gaskets
Replaced o-rings on the fuel injectors and cleaned them well.
Replaced oil pump drive oring
New thermostat
New coolant temperature sensor
EGR gasket
Upper intake gasket, cleaned and torqued properly. No damage to the plenum.
New spark plugs and wires, firing pattern is correct, and the plugs are gettin spark. Coil packs are good and cleaned and connected properly
New alternator, plugged in and grounded properly
New water pump
New Radiator coolant hoses, new coolant
New MAF sensor, old one was throwing a code - and cleaned the air intake/box and new gaskets
Oil change - New oil, filter
Everything looks good, no leaks or other issues. I've had a couple people look it over and they agree, all the sensors have been cleaned and connected, all the hoses and lines are correct, we labeled everything and it's all been gone over, looks good.
I reset the computer as I read in some instructions by turning the key and pressing the gas pedal, it seems like relays fired after that, the anti theft light is blinking like normal.
All fuses seem to be good, There's spark and we've checked over the coils plugs and wires multiple times.
There's plenty of fuel pressure, we've checked at the rail and done pressure tests and it's good.
Checked timing and everyting should be good there
No codes are being thrown currently.
When we try to start the car the starter is working great it cranks, battery is not too old and it's got enough juice no issue there. When it cranks there's some sputtering but it never seems to catch and fire. We tried using starting fluid and still couldn't get a fire even spraying some into the intake. It sounds like it's so close to starting but just wont, it really sounds like it wants to but it just never catches. We only get a small bit of smoke, sputtering, cough. It does sound like there is some air / coughing so we were wondering if something happened seating the lower intake or if it may have been over tightened. This is our only thought at the moment - there may be air leaking or might have to reseat the lower intake manifold.
At this point we've tested everything we can think of at the moment, tried to read codes but it hasn't thrown anything new.
My only other thought was something either computer related, or an issue with the crankshaft position sensor. I was told that if the CPS was bad that there may not be spark though so I'm not sure if that could be an issue??
Any ideas or suggestions on what to test or troubleshoot would be great. I can get pictures of anything if it's helpful, or if more details are needed I can elaborate. Were really stuck here and I'm just trying to think of anything we could do that we may have forgotten / overlooked. Like said, our next option is to take everything off down to the lower intake and go from there, reseating the gasket.
Thanks