Crank but no start after draining battery

Remember when all you needed was an old screwdriver to start an engine from under the hood? Add in a 1/2 and 9/16 wrench and you had your tool kit for any vehicle? My God am I old!đź‘´

yeah, not to hijack my own thread here, but that brings back to mind the 4runner story because it's a perfect example of the opposite of a vehicle you can fix with a couple of wrenches and a screwdriver.

I learned through this experience that over time, the communication protocols used by OBD2 ports have changed. Most generic OBD2 scanners start with the earliest protocol, and if that fails, they move on to the next, until the find one that the vehicle responds to.

On a 2004 4runner, there is a sequence of short and open across a particular pair of pins that deletes the calibration data for the sensors used by the traction control system, and that sequence also occurs during the connection process for one of the newer protocols than the vehicle uses. As long as the correct protocol succeeds, no problem...but if for some reason the scanner fails to establish communication using the correct protocol, the next one it tries will delete that calibration and cause the traction control light to illuminate and the TC system to deactivate the instant your vehicle moves. I connected to it to clear an O2 sensor code after replacing it, and afterward the TC system shut down. I had to first scour the internet to figure out what the heck happened, find that Toyota had published a TSB for it, and then get a couple of paperclips and made a jumper wire so I could complete the sequence to recalibrate the sensors.
 
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That fuseable link jogged my memory.

the fusible link between the alternator and battery is good.

Get some carb spray or ether (staring fluid), and spray it in the air cleaner. If it starts, you have a fuel problem. If it doesn't most likely a spark problem. I have a cool tool that is cheap for checking spark. It looks like a spark plug with no electrode. It has a clamp so you unplug your spark plug; put the boot on to this tool then clip it to a ground somewhere, and crank the motor, you will see spark shoot to ground if you have spark.

It will not start on starting fluid. I also picked up one of those spark testers and when I adjust the gap to where it tells me for electronic ignition, I get a consistent, but dark orange spark. Should it be bright blue or white at that gap?

It also has different gap settings to check increasing voltages. I can do that, but not sure what the voltage is supposed to be. I have a new coil coming today anyway so probably not much point in checking right now.

And as this weeks luck would have it, the PCV fitting in the valve cover snapped off when I pulled the intake tube to spray starting fluid in the throttle body. :mad:
 
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It will not start on starting fluid. I also picked up one of those spark testers and when I adjust the gap to where it tells me for electronic ignition, I get a consistent, but dark orange spark. Should it be bright blue or white at that gap?

It also has different gap settings to check increasing voltages. I can do that, but not sure what the voltage is supposed to be. I have a new coil coming today anyway so probably not much point in checking right now.

Your spark should a bright white/bluish color. I'd suspect a weak coil, high resistance in the cables or a poor ground from whatever you clipped the spark tester to. The manual calls for a .035 gap, is that what you had it set to?
 
Your spark should a bright white/bluish color. I'd suspect a weak coil, high resistance in the cables or a poor ground from whatever you clipped the spark tester to. The manual calls for a .035 gap, is that what you had it set to?

The spark plugs are set to .035.

The tester is this one from advance auto:

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the package instructions say to check for spark with the gap set at the "E" for electronic ignition, and the 2, 3, and 4 markings are for 20k, 30k, and 40k volts, respectively.

I didn't measure what the specific gap is at the E, but I can. It's quite a bit larger than a typical spark plug gap, though.

My new coil (a Delphi) showed up so I'm gonna run out and put it on.
 
ok...so I changed the coil. Should have left well enough alone but I decided to change the distributor cap too. Broke off one of the distributor cap bolts in the distributor, so I guess I need a new distributor now. :rolleyes:

the screw that broke off is not quite enough to grab with vice grips but tall enough that the new cap wouldn't sit down so I put the old cap back on with one screw and zip tied the side with the broken one.

Still no start, so I get the spark tester out and check...still have spark. Looks better than before.

Start looking at fuses again. Checked all the fuses that feed the PCM, ignition coil, injectors, etc with a multimeter, all had continuity. Then, I started second guessing my gauges, Fuel, voltage, and oil pressure seemed to work but tach wasn't moving when cranking. Then my sanity. Does the tach read when cranking? Did it before all this? I can't remember. I then gave it another crank, and this time, it sounded hopeful. Like it was trying.

So I gave it some more. Gave it some throttle. It came to life but was stumbling and sputtering. Kept giving throttle to keep it alive until it settled into a normal cold idle. Shut it down, started it back up again...sputtered again for awhile but not as long before settling down. Backed it into the garage, shut it off again. Went to start it and it started almost like normal.

So...it runs, but I'm not at all confident in what fixed it because I had a good 60 seconds of cranking between the last thing I fixed and seeing it run. And now I have to address the fact that my distributor is zip tied together.

Anybody have a brand they recommend for a replacement dizzy? I see new ones from SKP, Spectra Premium, and World Power Systems, and remans from Cardone (which I know enough to avoid) and Autoline.
 
I have this one on my wish list for when mine finally goes:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VVBNZXQ/?tag=wranglerorg-20

So it when it was running and sputtering did you get any codes?
Also double check your firing order again.
maybe take a sample of your gas in a glass jar you should have a fitting on your fuel rail
did you turn your dist? Maybe you timing is off now?
maybe your getting cabon tracks from the broken dist?
 
I have this one on my wish list for when mine finally goes:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VVBNZXQ/?tag=wranglerorg-20

what made you choose that one in particular?

I've been looking on ebay, found one in the $50 range out of a cherokee with similar mileage to mine. Can just swap my cam position sensor over to it with my new cap and rotor.

Then there's the autoline reman from rockauto that at least appears to use the OEM body/casting, but it's $150.

So it when it was running and sputtering did you get any codes?
Also double check your firing order again.
maybe take a sample of your gas in a glass jar you should have a fitting on your fuel rail
did you turn your dist? Maybe you timing is off now?
maybe your getting cabon tracks from the broken dist?

nope. No codes, and after about 15 seconds it settled into a smooth, normal idle.

During this whole process I've always replaced one cable at a time to keep the firing order, and I did double check again anyway.

Didn't touch the distributor hold down bolt. According to the FSM it doesn't actually have a slot anyway, the bolt holds it down and that's that. Computer handles the timing.

I'm starting to think I wet fouled the brand new plugs with a bad coil and it just took that much cranking with the new coil to clear it out and start firing. The exhaust smelled super rich when it was sputtering, and then got back to normal.
 
what made you choose that one in particular?

I've been looking on ebay, found one in the $50 range out of a cherokee with similar mileage to mine. Can just swap my cam position sensor over to it with my new cap and rotor.

Then there's the autoline reman from rockauto that at least appears to use the OEM body/casting, but it's $150.



nope. No codes, and after about 15 seconds it settled into a smooth, normal idle.

During this whole process I've always replaced one cable at a time to keep the firing order, and I did double check again anyway.

Didn't touch the distributor hold down bolt. According to the FSM it doesn't actually have a slot anyway, the bolt holds it down and that's that. Computer handles the timing.

I'm starting to think I wet fouled the brand new plugs with a bad coil and it just took that much cranking with the new coil to clear it out and start firing. The exhaust smelled super rich when it was sputtering, and then got back to normal.

I am tending to agree with you since you said it smoothed out.

I picked that one if I remember right as a suggestion of someone else on this forum and I just added it on my wish list a couple of years ago. I was having stalling and running rough issues myself. I would be driving down the freeway and all of a sudden it would start sputtering then die. I would coast off to the side of the road and it would fire right back up with no issues. It was very intermittent, and someone suggested replacing my distributor and gave me that link. I wasn't convinced it was my distributor, but one day me and some friends were playing hooky from work to go see the last star wars movie at that time two years ago and on my way in I slowed down to a stop at a freeway exit and the jeep just died and wouldn't restart.

I called triple A and they towed it back home. I hopped on my bike and rode to meet the guys then when I got home I did a fuel pressure test and it was fine so I pulled the dist cap and the end that spins around and makes connection to the wires was completely broken off. I ran down to car quest and got the best cap and rotor I could, and never had another issue again. So that is the long winded story of why that distributor.

I haven't bought it yet so I am no expert, but It was the one I was going to purchase. Price seemed reasonable and it got pretty good reviews.

Congrats on getting your jeep running.
 
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I did the same thing as Freedom...Dist. screw broke off. Got a new Dist. from O'Reilly's and put in. No start. This with new wires and plugs and now a new distributor.....I replace the cam sensor in the new Dist with the old one and she fired rite up. Took the new (bad) cam sensor back to OReillys and they gave me a new one. Saving it for a spare (hopefully good?)……...this on my 2.5L SE...2000.