2.3L ('83-'97) No start turbocharged 2.3 Ranger

[Kayden Schauer]

My 2.3 will not start period. For some context piston rings were in poor shape as I was burning almost a quart of oil in a few days (it was running on hopes and dreams) finally decided to rebuild the engine and add a turbo kit intended for the thunderbird and ranger since its almost the same engine minus the emissions stuff and the dual ignition system. Now it’s just a tiny .63m turbo and has all the necessary oil lines and everything to run how it should, that’s not the problem. I originally had an issue with no spark and found out I washed the rings out with gas rebuilt the engine a second time whilst fixing the cps hub since I found it was damaged an the cps wasn’t reading properly. Now for all the stuff I deleted was a majority of the vacuum lines the ones going to the egr valve and the one going to the intake from the vacuum solenoid deleted the egr valve and installed a block plate and an emulator to plug into the harness. I deleted it simply because there was no where to install it to the exhaust manifold. I also deleted the pcv system and installed an oil catch can. I have compression, spark, fuel and air I just can’t figure out why it won’t even give me anything. Just need some help pointed in the right direction, sorry for the essay.

 

[SenorNoob]

I have compression, spark, fuel and air

Only thing left is timing then.

 

[Kayden Schauer]

Only thing left is timing then.

I’m following what the old Chilton manual and I have it the exact same way as the diagram says to be tdc

 

[SenorNoob]

Fuel, is it actually getting into the cylinders, or just pressure on the rail?
Air, all you can really do here is use a fresh filter and make sure you didn't leave a rag in the engine or something.
Spark, it's possible to have it when the plugs are out of the engine but not under compression. I spent 2 years chasing that one on my motorcycle.
Timing, you set it right, but did it stay that way? Did everything move with the crankshaft? Pay particular attention whether the cam moves with the pulley.

Compression you've got but how much? What's the PSI on each cylinder?

Anything you put pictures or numbers to is good. Post them here. Maybe we'll be able to help more.

 

[Kayden Schauer]

I do smell gas on the plugs so it’s getting to the cylinder I’m gonna go buy a compression text kit from somewhere, I got one from harbor freight but it didn’t have the correct size for the threads in the kit. I also want to double check timing and everything do you know of any sources other than the book to double check timing mark place ment. Is there supposed to be a specific point that the oil pump pully is supposed to be placed because it only has the diamond on the pully but nothing indicating on the back timing cover? other places say that the timing cover is supposed to have diamonds mine doesn’t it just has a notch for the crank pully and the cam pully no other marks. As soon as I get home I’ll grab some pics of how I have the timing to kinda see if I messed it up.

 

[SenorNoob]

IDK if it's the same as the 4.0, but I bought a "spark plug non fouler" to get my Harbor Freight compression tester to work with my engine.

 

[scotts90ranger]

For timing you can ignore the oil pump pulley on a '90, it does nothing important to be timed for, most of the stuff online is based on having a distributor or the '95 plus that has a cam sensor... On a '90 there's a mark that you can see in the access hole on the outer cover and on the back of the pulley there's a notch on the top that matches up with a notch on the top of the inner timing cover, the crank pulley if you have the balancer off has the keyway pointing up and there's a notch or dot that lines up with a mark on the inner timing cover.

I've been thinking this over and don't have any great ideas assuming you have all the plug wires going to the right places on the coils

Anything else you're leaving out? You didn't change fuel injectors or anything, right? I'm assuming this is a late '90 with a mass airflow sensor or is it an older one with a MAP sensor mounted in the cowl with a hose? Assuming you have all the right wires hooked up nothing really stands out...

 

[Kayden Schauer]

This is kinda why I have going on right now. fuel injectors are stock since I didn’t really see a point in dumping more fuel since I’m gonna run low psi on the turbo it’s late 90s with maf but I’m wondering if it should try and mount the maf sensor right in front of the throttle body to read everything after the intercooler and all

 

[scotts90ranger]

No, don't move the MAF to before the throttle, before works fine, pressure changes the density and won't work as well...

Intercooler really complicates it under there, part of why I haven't gotten that far... your pistons will like you for it once it's going, mine don't care for now...

I'll ponder things and stare at the pictures and see if I think of something dumb, it's always something dumb...

 

[Kayden Schauer]

I think the something dumb is the gas is 6+months old had a buddy tell me it would be fine and against my own knowledge I believed him it has been that long since I started this project

 

[Kayden Schauer]

Currently dropping the tank as we speak bc found the filer neck was also dry rotted to hell and back

 

[Kayden Schauer]

No, don't move the MAF to before the throttle, before works fine, pressure changes the density and won't work as well...

Intercooler really complicates it under there, part of why I haven't gotten that far... your pistons will like you for it once it's going, mine don't care for now...

I'll ponder things and stare at the pictures and see if I think of something dumb, it's always something dumb...

Intecooler is mounted at the front underneath the core support between the frame

 

[scotts90ranger]

Intecooler is mounted at the front underneath the core support between the frame

I figured, this is pretty much the setup I have now:

Different turbo now but not much changed... I never got as far as putting in an intercooloer obviously, I have a stock thunderbird unit but no airflow to support it, thought of an air to air by the radiator but that's a dangerous area in what I do, thought of an air to water then a radiator in a bedside just haven't gotten there... For my uses it works for now...

Dumb question, but any trouble codes? probably not, the computers are pretty dumb... You didn't flip the MAF backwards did you? Being installed there you obviously did some things to get it working since it would have been mounted to the outlet on the air filter box (I have the top from a '89 2.9L that had a hose, the stock top was ungodly and didn't work at all but mine didn't come with a MAF)

 

[Kayden Schauer]

Yeah I use mine for just commuting but she’s been a fun little project car it’s lowered but still got her off roading (riding on the side of the trail on a atv trail too low I’d bottom out) off in the middle of nowhere farm land. I just wanted a little more power out of it to make it a little faster down the off ramp to the interstate .

Maf sensor is pointing in the right direction I double checked had me confused for a sec but that would be somethin I’d do
No codes sadly I tried that multiple times but still nothing that’s why I’m gonna see how some fresh gas works never in this trucks life has the tank ever been dropped I’ve always lifter the bed off but I can’t now due to subwoofer wired being ran through the bed and my topper would make it heavy af

 

[scotts90ranger]

Worth a shot especially if the neck is rotten... mine's perfect somehow... I know the drill, if I ever get there I want to do similar to my '97, conveniently I have everything on hand to throw a mild turbo on it just not the time yet... don't need to muddy your thread, I'll try to help out where I can, nothing has just come to mind yet... I would probably check the plug wires on the passenger side plugs though to make sure they're going to the right cylinders though, if you have the middles swapped with the outers it won't start since the passenger side coil is the only one to get spark on cranking.