2.9l ranger won't start after replacing head gaskets

[dmdeland]

Morning all, Tuesday I decided to replace all the gaskets in my 2.9l 87 ranger, after putting it all back together it just turns over and won't start. I did the fuel test and that's fine, took a spark plug off and getting a weak yellow spark, and was thinking that could be it but haven't changed the distributor, icm or ignition coil. Would like some different opinions before I drop more money into it. It is my daily driver and I replaced head gaskets from power loss after warm up, and losing water in the engine. Only after tearing it down that I noticed that the liquid gasket applied to the head gasket was clogging holes and way to much was used. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-David

 

[fyre82]

I would suggest that you go back and;
Check/clean/grease wiring connections where you took it apart or stressed the connection, including battery and plug wires. Also look for burnt or melted connections, these can hide under grease/dirt. The main loom connection on the driver side has a habit of burning the hot wire connection.

Check/clean the ground wires, there are two (2) that go from the engine to the body, (one off of each head), and the direct battery ground to the block.

Recheck the timing.

Perform maintenance it if it needs it.

I would bet a donut hole that it's your grounds.

Good luck
Rich

 

[RonD]

Did you pull the distributor during the head job?

If so the distributor could be 180deg out, there are two TDCs for each 1 revolution of the distributor.
If you remove #1 spark plug and turn engine manually you can feel the compression stroke with your finger, then check the distributor rotor, it should be pointed at #1 on cap.
If it is pointed at #5 then it is 180deg out, you can either pull the distributor and change it or pull the plug wires on the cap and change those

 

[NO mind]

you may have cracked the insulation on your plug wires. Check each one all the way up and down the length and make sure your distributer has a good solid connection with clean grounds. Also it's less likely this just happened coincidentally but you could pull the cap off and check the rotor point for wear or debris. I also assume you're not running any kind of ignition system or spark enhancer.

 

[dmdeland]

I removed the distributor and had 20 minutes worth of fun reinstalling it but finally got it in, I cranked and nothing but a bogged turn over even with a charged battery, took the cap off put it back in with new wires and plugs and had a normal turn over just not starting, and it's all stock no ignition or spark enhancer.

 

[dmdeland]

Found something worth looking at, I believe I messed with the tdc when I had the engine out along with the distributor cap, so I believe the timing is off, what do y'all think?

-David

 

[black_demon69]

i think that is probably your problem

 

[feellnfroggy]

check all your ground wires for sure.

 

[adsm08]

Wait, I am confused about one part of this.

You went to all the trouble of a head gasket job because you just woke up one day and decided you wanted to replace all your gaskets?

I like to tear my truck apart for the fun of it too, but that seems excessive, even by my standards.



Anyway, bring cylinder one back around to TDC and check the location of the rotor. It should be pretty well centered in the notch on the dis stem. If it isn't you can either re-time it, or you can move the plug wires around so that your positions are correct.

 

[dmdeland]

Found the problem, a wire barely came out of the ignition coil wire connector, replaced it started right up, now can't get it to go over 25 and then it'll start running crazy and eventually die, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm leaning towards distributor cap on that one and Im guessing it's not in the correct firing order?

I knew it would need to be rebuilt from water being on the oil cap so I started with the valve covers sure enough, it was covered in a chocolate milkish paste, wish I had taken a picture and once I got to that I already had bought the gasket kit so might as well go a little deeper.

 

[feellnfroggy]

not going over 25 sounds like timing yes. but if it was wires out of order, you would have heard it. im thinking too much advance or retard of the timing. needs to be better fine tuned.