Wont start 90SE

[90 SE TL]

Ok I did a bunch of work to my 90 SE and now it wont start.
New timing belt, injectors, turbo and spark plugs.
Car sat for about 6 months until i got it finished. I tried to start it and it ran for a second at low RPM then died. now it wont start at all. I check and i have spark at all the plugs, the plugs do look wet so i dried them out and still wont start. I thought maybe bad gas but i drained all the old gas and put in new but it still wont start. Plugs keep looking wet. Even replaced the old plugs but still wont start. I also replaced the computer but as you may guess, it still wont start.
Tommorow i plan to recheck the timming marks but i am sure they are fine as i checked them 10 times after i put the timming belt on.
any ideas??
thanks
CAL

What I do have:
Spark at the Plugs and Fuel Presure at the rail

[cnh1990]

Just curious are the plug wires in the correct order on the coil packs?

Coil packs are numbered.

[Paul93Lotus]

Have you checked the EBPV valve...if it's stuck shut, you will not get the car to start. It's the valve at the catalytic convertor. It would be the equivalent of the "potato in the exhaust pipe" trick.

If that's fine...then check the following:

Idle Air Control valve (stuck)
Coolant sensor (check resistance to be sure within spec)
Leaky injectors (causing flooding)
Crank sensor (if this dies...it's like losing a distributor on an older car).Check connection and clean sensor area.


Lastly...you may have installed the belt incorrectly...double check versus timing marks / correct position of cam sprockets.
Good Luck...Hope You Find It!

[Autocross7]

If you have fuel and fire... as suggested above... I'd be inclined to think that the wires are not in order. However, as you do not have a distributor that can be 180dgs out, I am not sure how easy it is to get the wires out of order? But an easy check just the same.

I am pretty sure the basic motor design is the same however, suggesting that if you are mechanically out of time (ie: the time marks do not line up) you would have done some noticeable damage as the motor is not a non interferance design.


Drive topless!!!
Cameron

[lotusse89]

90 SE TL said:

Ok I did a bunch of work to my 90 SE and now it wont start. New timing belt, injectors, turbo and spark plugs. Car sat for about 6 months until i got it finished. I tried to start it and it ran for a second at low RPM then died. now it wont start at all. I check and i have spark at all the plugs, the plugs do look wet so i dried them out and still wont start. I thought maybe bad gas but i drained all the old gas and put in new but it still wont start. Plugs keep looking wet. Even replaced the old plugs but still wont start. I also replaced the computer but as you may guess, it still wont start. Tommorow i plan to recheck the timming marks but i am sure they are fine as i checked them 10 times after i put the timming belt on. any ideas?? thanks CAL What I do have: Spark at the Plugs and Fuel Presure at the rail

Verify the wires first, if not that, then I would check for clogged injectors... I've had it happen after sitting for 6months or more.


On the SE, you can loosen the intercooler, lay it back. Release the two bolts holding the fuel rail into the manifold, pull the rail (with all the injectors still clipped in) and set it on some paper towels. Crank the engine a few times, and look for wet spots. There are further diagnostic steps to follow in section EMH of the manual (sold sepeartely). Give that a try, and come back here.

[ragingfool]

fuel cutoff inertia switch?

[90 SE TL]

Plugs are all correct, I am starting to think the Cam timing is off. What is the color dots on the front side of the engine. I did the Intake / aux pulley swap. so i have a green dot on the intake side and a blue dot on the exhaust side. I did note that the dots are both near the EX on each pulley. there are no other dots on the green side of the intake pulley?

[lotusse89]

90 SE TL said:

Plugs are all correct, I am starting to think the Cam timing is off. What is the color dots on the front side of the engine. I did the Intake / aux pulley swap. so i have a green dot on the intake side and a blue dot on the exhaust side. I did note that the dots are both near the EX on each pulley. there are no other dots on the green side of the intake pulley?

Looking from the front of the engine (against the firewall) you should see th "IN" near the green dot on the intake pulley, and "EX" near the blue dot on the exhaust pulley.
Like this


From the rear of the engine it will be the opposite. The blue dot will say "IN" near the blue dot on the exhaust puley, and "EX" near the green dot on the intake pulley.

Like this
www.lotuscolorado.com/vulcangrey/gallery/fueltankremoval/P8090108?full=1

SO it sounds like you need to flip the green dot intake pulley arround.

[90 SE TL]

That is the problem, On my Green dot intake pulley there is only one dot and it is at the EX on the pulley (same on both sides) I guess when i put it all together i was just looking for the green dot. looks like i need to swap out for the stock red dot pulley agian.

to review:

my aux pulley that i sawped for the intake only had 1 dot on each side, a green dot next to the EX on one side and a silver dot next to the EX on the other side

[cnh1990]

Hopefully you did not damage the valves if the timing was off on the cams.

[jk1]

90 SE TL said:

That is the problem, On my Green dot intake pulley there is only one dot and it is at the EX on the pulley (same on both sides) I guess when i put it all together i was just looking for the green dot. looks like i need to swap out for the stock red dot pulley agian. to review: my aux pulley that i sawped for the intake only had 1 dot on each side, a green dot next to the EX on one side and a silver dot next to the EX on the other side

Chris,

Can you post pics of both sides of the aux pulley? It would be highly unusual for the dot to be on EX on both sides. Lotus only supplied 3 different pulleys, red, blue and green dot and they are all reversible IN/EX depending on which way they face. The colors denote MOP (maximum opening point) and are all the same pulley with only the keyway groove being different. Don't have time to explain it at the moment but if you do a search I'm sure Tim Engel has posted the info here at some point.

There is no silver dot but the paint could have worn out of the dot showing the base aluminum color.

Hope there is no valve/piston damage...

Good luck,

Jim

[Autocross7]

If you were only off a tooth or so, you may be okay for valve damage etc... roll it around (by hand) to TDC and look to see how close the two cam dots (EX and IN)are to one another. One tooth can create a starting/running issue with no valve damage.
However, if they are off by much, it might be worth pulling the head and getting the valves checked if you are going to have to take everything back apart anyway? Hope not....


Drive topless!!!
Cameron

[90 SE TL]

Here are some pics. on the new pulley the dot is in the same location on both sides. at TDC the Valve's are both closed. the itake valve is just closed and the exhaust is about to open:



next pic is from the front of the engine:

[lotusse89]

90 SE TL said:

Here are some pics. on the new pulley the dot is in the same location on both sides. at TDC the Valve's are both closed. the itake valve is just closed and the exhaust is about to open: next pic is from the front of the engine:

From those pics it looks like the intake pulley says "IN" on the back side, and "EX" on the front side (near the firewall). That is backwards, turn the intake pulley around so that the "IN" is on the front of the engine (third picture where it says "EX" now)

[90 SE TL]

Yes it say IN and IN on the 2 pulleys looking from the back side. With both sides of the intake pulley having dots being in the same position. wouldn't it put the cams in the same position if i fliped it around?

[90 SE TL]

Yes it say IN and IN on the 2 pulleys looking from the back side. With both sides of the intake pulley having dots being in the same position. wouldn't it put the cams in the same position if i fliped it around?

[lotusse89]

90 SE TL said:

Yes it say IN and IN on the 2 pulleys looking from the back side. With both sides of the intake pulley having dots being in the same position. wouldn't it put the cams in the same position if i fliped it around?

From the backside the intake pulley needs to say "EX", and the exhaust pulley needs to say "IN". It seems backwards, but the front of the engine is where the assemblers usually see everything, so that is why it only makes sense from the front.

Flip your intake pulley around, it should run then.

[90 SE TL]

that is the part i don't get. if the dot on the intake pulley is in the same location on both sides and i just flip it over then the cam will be in the same position as it is now???

[lotusse89]

90 SE TL said:

that is the part i don't get. if the dot on the intake pulley is in the same location on both sides and i just flip it over then the cam will be in the same position as it is now???

It doesn't matter what the dots relation to the tooth is, it matters what the woodruf key's relation to the tooth is!

If you flip the cam over, then there will be some amount of offset (different than what you have now, which won't run) from the woodruf slot to the position of the tooth with the dot. That offset is what sets the timing, and different MOP.

The woodruf key and dot aren't lined up, so if you flip the pulley over, it will have a differnet orientation.


>> Edited by lotusse89 on Thursday 27th April 20:44

[90 SE TL]

That did the trick, I will post pics. looks like it was about 5 teeth off. It was not letting the gas comprise on the compression stroke