i took apart the top of the engine to replace the headgaskets and valve seals.
today i got it all put back together and ran into a problem.

let me say that this wasnt the most responsible thing i have ever done.
see, the ground strap from the driver's side head wasnt put on.
i made the mistake of disconnecting it from the head rather than disconnecting the strap from the nut on the fender.
second, the ground strap that connects on the passenger side (fender to head) WAS put on.. but as i was talking to a buddy and gently pulling on the strap, it broke away like cotton.
i knew it was bad, but didnt think it would come apart.

anyways.. since i put the headgaskets on, i knew that the heads dont really touch the block because of the gaskets.
and i had a look at the coil on plug harness to see that there is two wires.

i must say, i also have the green 'pin' wire on each side of the head not connected to anything because i dont remember what it was connected to and cant find a male 'blade' connection anywhere.
i have gone through my box of loose bolts and nuts, there isnt anything in there that would screw down and connect to the 'female blade' connector.
(it is a single wire with a female blade harness, with a green wire.. found on both sides of the engine, taped together with the ignition coil wires)

well.. my buddy was excited and wanted to turn the key to see if the engine would start.
i connected all of the sensors myself, and i knew that there was the driver side ground connection loose on the head (strap and two black wires terminated with a ring connector)
and i knew that i had just recently broke the ground strap on the passenger side (there is also two black wires that are terminated with a ring terminal that remained connected on the passenger side)

i knew that maybe the ignition coils didnt have a ground, and that the engine might not start.. but i let him hit the key anyways.

he hit the key and the starter engaged, and that was it.. nothing else.
i thought maybe the battery was dead.. and i went to get the jumper machine.
but first i walked a few blocks to napa and got a new ground strap.
i installed the ground strap on the passenger side head, from the fender to the original bolt location.
then i put the machine on the jumper headers and tried to start it again, i got nothing.
no noise or clicks or anything, but the interior lights where on.

i noticed that the odometer was working, but the parking indicator light wasnt on.
i thought 'maybe the starter needs that ground strap and those ground wires connected to the head to work'
so i grabbed the negative jumper cable from the jumper machine (one of those big 200 amp jumpers on wheels) and i connected the ground directly to the starter to try and give the starter some current.
turned the key and got nothing again.
i started to think the starter might be frozen.
i glanced over the fuses in the power distribution block and they looked okay.
but
my buddy had a closer look and found one of the 40 amp fuses blown.
while i was under the car tracing wires to make sure nothing got pinched when i installed the driver side head.. he said to me 'i got it.. you got a short'
and apparently he took another 40 amp fuse and put it in the blown fuse spot, tried to start the car again and nothing happened.. but the fuse obviously blew again.

while i was under the car, i noticed the starter has a giant negative wire connected with a ring terminal onto the middle bolt that holds the starter on.

now for the embarassing part..
i really dont know which 40 amp fuse blew.
each one took me a triple view to see that the middle was broken.
but
each fuse location said 'inj' something
i know the one on the right side said inj/st (or was it inj/sw ?)
the other one was simply inj
(or was it ing ?)

i should have brought the top of the fuse box home to see the diagram.
instead i thought i would be cute and bring the haynes manual home to browse through the electrical schematics.
well the schematics dont say much.. like there isnt even a description telling me what fuse is which.
all i get to go by is the 40 amps.


one of the diagrams that shows a 40 amp fuse in the power distribution block is the 'starting system' on page 12-24
it basically says the positive goes from the battery to the 40 amp fuse, to the starter, then to the starter relay.. and one way to the powertrain control module, and the other way to the ignition switch.

this makes me wonder, if the starter is bad.. would it be what caused the fuse to blow?
it got late and i decided to clean up and get home to some food and rest.
but
i plan on taking the starter out to get a good look at the head on the drivers side.
because there is a wire that i cant see or feel where it goes to.
i just wanna double check to make sure it isnt smashed into the head, and maybe something dangling in the cylinder?
i really doubt that it would be true, because i spun the engine numerous different times while putting it all back together to make sure there was nothing fallen down into the head or the cylinder.

i dont remember hearing the starter relay click.. but obviously, based on the schematic, the relay wouldnt be functional unless the fuse wasnt blown.


so these are my questions i hope somebody can answer to save me some time consumption.
1. if the starter is bad, would it blow a fuse? (i had a look at it and it is rusty and appears to maybe be the original)
2. if those green wires with the 'female blade' connection are ment to be THE solid ground for all of the coils on the plugs.. would that have been something that caused the fuse to blow?


see, not only was i a bit lazy with the driver's side head ground connection.. i couldnt get to it at all to put it back.
so instead of just leaving both wires there to hang, i thought i would be cute and use a nut and bolt to connect them together.
i thought 'maybe these two black wires are a ground from the battery.. or maybe they are a ground for a sensor and need to be connected'
so i used the nut and bolt to give them a ground connection.
i had every intention to run some new ground wires on the driver side (and also for those green 'female blade' connections) to have them grounded IF i need to.
i am not trying to starve the ignition coils of a ground.. and i figured i would realize that they needed to be grounded if the engine would rotate but not start.


i thought i double and triple checked that there werent any wires between the head and the block for the drivers side.
there wasnt any wiggling to suggest i had something caught.
as a matter of fact, i checked the front to visually see that the block and head was making solid contact.
i also checked the back with my finger to feel that it was on there nice and tight.. and i rubbed my finger back and forth quite a few times to get an answer.. having to use my finger nail to get some response.


so i am really wondering if somebody could give an answer to those two questions before i start with the multimeter to check for shorts in the wires.
i am hoping i will be lucky enough to find the answer to be a bad starter, or maybe i fed the ignition coils nothing but positive without any negative.. and if that caused a surge to blow the fuse, fine.. i can ground those two green wires pretty quickly and replace the fuse.
i am more worried that it might be neither of the two.
giving reason to my post, to see if anybody else knows of the situation as 'common'

i would also like to know where the starter gets its negative cable from.
i am guessing it comes straight from the negative jumper post.. but i cant trace the wire because too much is in the way.

 

i looked at the fuse box today and it says 'ign' and 'ign/st'

as i said, i dont know if both sockets blew.
but
i would guess that the 'ign/st' fuse blew, and the other 40 amp fuse for the ignition was used to try again.

having a look at the wiring schematics.. there are only 2 instances of a 40 amp fuse.
one was the starter circuit, and the other was something else unrelated to the starting (i think it was the radiator fans actually, but i dont have the book with me to confirm)

it was 100 degrees today, and maybe i will still pull the starter off at around 6pm when it has cooled down some.
as it is, there is no shade back there.. and the fences keep the wind out to keep me cool.
tomorrow is supposed to be a little bit less hot (by only a few degrees)
but anyways, i dont have a ride to the junkyard so i'm not willing to do much except pull the starter off.
that alone is enough to get my entire head and chest soaked with sweat.
being on the computer in a chair for too long has caused my body to ache and complain.

today i woke up and thought to myself the instant i woke up 'i need a nap'
that isnt doing me any bit of good when combined with no motivation to get back there and finish the job.
cant find the strength within me to stay around when there isnt anything to do or anything to say.

time consumed as relationships rot away.
i'll be most pleased to get my car out of there so i dont have to continue to force myself to walk over there and 'get the job done'
add to that, they want to pave the area where i am working.
its full of rocks now and i dont know if it is going to be asphalt, concrete, or tar.
but i feel in the way, and there is little else going on.
people are coming to the shop for mufflers and oil changes and tuneups as usual.. but i am suffering from not getting paid for my time (not that i do anything.. but i would be better had if i had some money to bring motivation)
communication is bad.. and that just tips things over the edge.
nobody willing to talk about their future or their past.
nothing being said for the current time being.
its like a tooth ache that needs some medicine, and going without the pain killers is torture.

what their idea of fun is while working is pretty unsatisfying.
perhaps there is no fun on the job site, and that is self-torture.. as well as a lack of responsibility to say you cant do two things at once (or go back and forth between them without wasting much time)

two years with these people and havent made any progress or seen signs of our future together.

anyways..
the diagram shows the starter and the ignition switch and whatever controls the shutdown relay (i dont remember if it is the transmission computer or the PCM)
but i doubt either one of those is the culprit for the blown fuse.

maybe my thinking has already solved the problem.
since the diagram shows the fuel injectors and the ignition coils share a 20 amp fuse.. i find it hard to believe that either one of those caused a direct short to blow a different fuse.
when i realized those fuses are seperate, it was some relief to know that the problem had been narrowed down.

and it seems the ignition coils get their positive from the battery and their negative from the control module.
i've seen that the PCM outputs positive and negative.. so as long as it is grounded, there doesnt seem to be much else needed IF the pcm is heavily grounded for each individual coil.
otherwise i will need to add a second ground to keep up with the amperage demands.
i dont think the amperage demands would blow the fuse right away, it would probably cause the fuse to blow slowly though.
i'm looking to get the engine started as of now.
i already know that if a fuse blows or it runs poorly, that i'll put in some 'manual' methods of ground.

i just dont get what the wiring diagram says for the two green wires.
it looks as if the wires are solid green, but i will have to wipe them off to double check for a stripe.
if the stripe is there, then the wiring diagram says those wires are for 'capacitor 1' and 'capacitor 2'
but there are no capacitors that were removed.
i think those wires connected to a terminal that was mounted onto one of the bolts holding the valve cover down.

i would still like some information if it helps narrow down the situation.
because if the starter isnt the problem, then i will be spinning to think of what else it could be.

to say a positive and negative wire is touching seems pretty unlikely.. because when the ignition switch was turned on, that should have been enough to allow the starter relay to turn on.. and if there was a short, then the short would have caused a blown fuse before the starter had its chance to make some noise.

those are my beliefs, but stranger things have happened.. so i am here asking.

 

as it turns out, the positive wire for the solenoid was caught inbetween the head and the block.

dissapointing really, to have spent all the time i did to put it back together only to have something like a wire get in the way.

i didnt even get much of a chance to see how much of the wire is caught.
i knew i felt it go into the headgasket area.. but my buddy who is much smaller and thinner got under there to get a better visual.
he said it was actually caught, and he yanked on the cord to show me the piece pulled out.
it was spread out and frayed, so i am just gonna leave it and hope the compression doesnt burst out the gasket where the wire is.
i know that the plastic will probably melt and the copper wont necessarily get in the way.
since that was an old trick used by hot rod people.. put a copper ring of wire around the piston hole (using weld wire) to get a tighter fit around the piston seal.
usually for more compression or seals that constantly break loose without it.


so he grabbed some wire and patched the solenoid cable.. we used the fuse from the wipers to put in place of the 'ign/st' fuse.
but the 'ign' fuse was still blown.
gonna go to the junkyard tomorrow to get some new fuses ($5 each new)

my only question now is,
what on earth are the 'capacitor 1' and 'capacitor 2' wires?
i dont know if they are positive or negative.
i would patch them, but i need to know what polarity first.
maybe the engine will start and run with the new fuse?

 

went to the junkyard for some fuses and to see where those wires go.

if you didnt know already,
those capacitors are actual pieces that screw onto the back bolt of the valve cover.
you know, there are the bolts around the valve cover.. then the two bolts in the middle and on top of the cover.
well, the capacitor slides over the threads of the rear top bolt and is held in place by a nut.

seems like the squirrels were stealing items out of my box of bolts.

now i have an issue with the timing.
put it on right, but the computer doesnt think i did it right.
i'm pretty sure the cams are lined up with the crankshaft to keep the valves open and shut at the right times.. but the computer isnt firing the spark plugs at the right times, to say that there is a problem with the computer timing.. since i am hearing some ignition with the valve open and the engine is hopping up and down at idle.

it wouldnt start with the camshaft sensor plugged in.
and i read somewhere that it is a key indication that the camshaft and crankshaft sensor arent perfectly aligned.
the primary timing chain was set with each indicator in the appropriate position, but maybe it jumped a tooth.
no way to really know except taking the timing cover and valve covers off to have another look.

if the marks are still lined up, i will have to assume the camshafts spin twice as fast as the crankshaft and that my spinning of the crankshaft a couple 'teeth' away from the mark on the oil pan has offset the valves a few degrees.
i couldnt get the bolts in the hole with the crankshaft pointed at the mark on the oil pump.
if i had to do it again, i would install one bolt.. spin the assembly to install the second bolt (which is what i did the first time, except i did what i could to keep the cam sprockets lined up with the plated link and didnt care to move the crankshaft a little bit)
next time i will keep the crankshaft exactly where it is and maybe slide in the bolt by spinning the cam.. and bolt it down with a wrench in the exact position.
i was lazy and wanted to do it with a ratchet.

i remember the camshafts wouldnt sit in the middle anymore.. the valve springs kept shoving the dots on the secondary chain either left or right.
had to use the ratchet inside the camshaft to spin it and hold it.. but couldnt hold the camshaft while doing the final sprocket.

there is a video on youtube from the 'mastertech' video that clearly shows how the one bolt wont go in because the head is in the way.
not a total failure, since there isnt any smoke pouring out of the exhaust pipes anymore.
just gotta get the camshaft sensor aligned with the crankshaft sensor to get it running like 'normal'
it wont rev past 3k rpm as of now.

and i guess that means you cant rotate the entire assembly a few 'teeth' and expect it to work, even if the marks on the primary chain are aligned.

pretty annoying to watch the engine hop up and down at idle, then run smoother for a split second.. back and forth until it finally decided to hop up and down only.
it would have been prevented if the bolt holes on the camshaft sprockets were rotated to allow both bolts to go in easily.

but, maybe the timing did slip a tooth when i was cranking it by hand to make sure nothing fell into the heads.
i removed the oil from the primary chain tensioner.. tried to reset it and it wouldnt stay reset.
so i just shoved it back in there and bolted it in anyways.
was quite a bit of pressure (like 30lbs) but maybe not enough.

if the timing cover comes off and shows i am off a tooth.. i will obviously do it again, but would be scared to death that the tensioner isnt going to hold the slack a second time.

does anybody know if the tensioner locks into place any stronger when the reset feature is working?
i know it is a pain to shove the tensioner in there when it isnt shortened by the reset.
maybe i will buy a new tensioner.

anybody else have a problem with their timing after putting a 2.7 back together?