Discovery II, '01. Had a blown head gasket. Both heads were removed and changed gaskets. All new gaskets. Replaced all of the piston rings as well.

Have spark and compression. Seem to have fuel pressure (I don't have the equipment to really properly check it, but I did remove the fuel feed from the rail and it was pressurized). The fuel injectors are a possible problem, but there was no problem with the fuel injectors before the head gasket problem. The truck ran just fine with the exception of loss of compression to one cylinder (the one that was affected by the blown head gasket.

The interesting part is that it does crank, and it seemed like it was trying to start, but wasn't quite there. I'm thinking the starter could be the issue. The starter was cranking slowly, so I jumped it with another car, with the engine running and the starter is still slow to turn. I didn't let the starter crank for more than a few seconds between attempts, so my trying to crank the engine shouldn't have damaged the starter.

I've never dealt with a bad position sensor, so I don't know if I can rule that out or not, but the truck ran just fine before this.

No lights are showing as a problem on the cluster. The check engine light comes on solid at position two, but I believe that is perfectly normal until the engine starts (never really paid attention to it). The oil light comes on steady, which is also normal until the engine starts. The seatbelt light also stays lit, because I don't have it on. I had the Sports mode light on, but I pressed the Mode button and it went off, so that was working fine.

My only other thought is if something didn't quite sit right when taking the pistons out and reinstalling them. Each piston was done one at a time, so there is no possibility that pistons were switched, and there was no problem with reinstalling any of them.

The MAF is plugged in. The fuel rail is plugged in. All of the injectors are plugged in. All of the spark plugs are plugged in and fully seated. I never disconnected the crankshaft sensor. The ground is connected from the driver side head to the firewall. I even removed a few of the spark plugs and swabbed the combustion chamber to make sure there was no flooding or coolant getting in there, and the three I checked were all dry.

Now I'm stuck and open to any suggestions.

 

If you have spark then I think you can rule out the crank position sensor.

Did you remember to remove any paper towels you may have used to plug an open hole?

I would double check all the fuses (under the hood and dash) and ground wires.

You said that the starter was turning over slowly right? How old is your battery? Maybe hook a charger up to it for a few hours and see if the starter still cranks slow. You said you tried jumping it already so this might not help.

You said it acts like it wants to start. What does that mean exactly? Is it firing for a second then dying out? or Is it just cranking over with a sputter every now and then?

 

I considered the paper towels also, but no, I cleaned everything up (degreaser) and I removed the paper towels when I degreased the parts.

I checked all of the fuses under the hood and under the dash. All are good. I even switched the relays around (black for black and yellow for yellow), just to make sure its none of those.

The battery is just a couple months old (literally).

An occasional sputter, like it's about to turn over, but then it stops.

I am really stumped by this one.

I traced the harness wires to make sure nothing was left unplugged. I even took the top part of the engine apart again (upper and lower intake manifolds) just to make sure everything was connected properly, so no grounds seem to be missing.

If the crank position sense would keep any spark at all from happening, then I guess it wouldn't be that. I never dealt with a bad CKP on any vehicle, so I really don't know.

 

Did you take off the front cover and mess with the timing chain at all?

Also, Try putting a socket on the crank shaft pulley bolt and rotating it with a ratchet to see if it feels like it's binding up or really hard to turn.

 

Reset inertia switch?

 

No. Didn't remove the fan, the water pump, or the timing cover.

I did accidentally rotate the engine the wrong way a little bit, but it wasn't even a quarter of a rotation, but I am a little concerned that could have possibly done some harm. I really doubt it though, because it was such a small rotation counterclockwise. But the timing chain is a small concern because of it.

 

I seem to have fuel pressure, but I have pressed on the inertia switch a few times just to make sure it didn't pop out, because it did get banged a couple of times while removing the head.

 

Almost forgot. You my need to put your key in the door and lock and unlock the car. It may be immobilized.

 

Did that also. The alarm light is operating properly. I figured it wouldn't be the immobilizer because the starter is cranking, but I did lock and unlock it with the key and kept an eye on the indicator light and everything is operating as it should (alarm wise).

 

You can pull fuse 10 under hood, and put meter on amps in place of fuse, reading current to fuel pump. It is a 30 amp fuse, but my pump only draws like 5 amps. If pump is not drawing amps, it has no moxie to make PSI. Pump should run for a few seconds when key is turned on, then stops if engine is not running.