So I threw a rod in my 02 Ecotec and bought a used engine off ebay. It had a busted timing chain and bent valves. I took my engine out, put my head on the ebay block and put it all back in. Now I have 3 issues (so far).
1) The engine won't start. I turn the key and sometimes the starter just clicks. Other times the starter engages and VERY slowly turns the engine over. Either way, it's not turning the engine fast enough to get it to start so I have no idea what else is wrong other than that. I charged the battery for a couple of hours, but I'm charging it again now and will leave it overnight and hope that helps.
2) The transmission is not shifting properly. I moved the shift levers (the ones on the transmission itself) around a bit when it was disconnected from the engine. When I put it back in, I attached the shift cables and they aren't doing much of anything. On the tranny there is one lever that moves side to side and one that moves in and out. The lever that moves side to side will click between 2 positions, but the one that moves in and out doesn't seem to want to move at all. I unclipped the shift cables up near the shifter itself (inside the car), pushed in that U-clip to center the shifter, and got the tranny into what I think might be neutral, then reclipped the cables but still no luck. Any suggestions here would be appreciated.
3) There is one electrical connector that I can't find a home for. It is on the same cable as the connector that plugs into the thermostat housing. I labeled it as "above exhaust sensor" which isn't helping me much apparently. If I remember correctly, it has a blue rubber thing on it and is a 2-wire connector.
Thanks for any help.
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Charged the battery overnight and still getting a very slow crank. I tried putting a little fuel in the TB to see if it would catch and run, but it didn't do anything. Now wondering if I'm getting spark. With the thing turning over so slowly, I'm not sure it would even matter if I'm getting spark or not. Still looking for ideas as to why I'm cranking so slowly. Also still no luck figuring out the shifting. Any ideas?
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Pulled the spark plugs out. Getting no spark. Tried a spare ignition module (or whatever the big black box on top of the valve cover is called) and still no spark. When I pulled the plugs, the engine turned over at normal speed. Now I'm starting to think the timing got screwed up sometime between when I set it and when I put the engine back in the car. Possibly when I was putting the flywheel back on or something. Would the timing being off cause the engine to crank very slowly? I'm thinking it could. Looks like adjusting the timing with the engine in the car shouldn't be too incredibly difficult but we'll see.
Also, would the timing being off cause a no spark condition? Is there a crank sensor and cam sensor that have to agree in order for the computer to send a signal to give spark during startup?
Still no luck on the transmission. Can somebody shift their car into neutral and take a picture of the linkages on the transmission so I know where mine needs to be set to be in neutral? You'd be my hero, thanks.
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Slow crank sounds like the ground isn't bolted to the block.
Is the ground wire from the battery bolted to the engine block, or rather under a bell housing bolt?
- Your not-so-local, untrained, uncertified, backyard mechanic. But my @!#$ runs
You forgot the option of "dangling near the engine not attached to anything." You are the man!! She fired up pretty easily once grounded. Now the last thing to fix is the transmission issue. Any advice on that one?
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Nope, no experience with j-body manual transmissions.
- Your not-so-local, untrained, uncertified, backyard mechanic. But my @!#$ runs
Transmission is fixed and working flawlessly now. Started the engine, let the clutch out all the way slowly. Nothing was grinding, let it spin for a couple seconds, pushed clutch back in and shut her down. Went to shift the transmission and it was shifting just like it should. I guess something just got out of place and spinning the gears got everything back where it needed to be. Now I just need to attach the exhaust and fill up all the fluids and she's ready for a test drive! Pretty pumped. Thanks again for the help.
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