ok, here is the situation: To make a long story short, I bought a car off of some guy knowing that it didnt run but that doesnt matter because I have another engine sitting at my house. The seller of the car explained to me that the reason the car isnt running is the possibility of a broken timing belt. once again, that doesnt matter because i have a new engine. however, i checked over the car after i got home and the timing belt is intact. I was sure that I would be able to fix the engine currently in the car and get it running so i could drive the car around a bit and see what condition the transmission is in but now i think i may give up.

This is what i have done so far: i turned the car over manually with a breaker bar to make sure that the belt hadnt just skipped a tooth, and everything's good in that department. There was oil in the spark plug galleys so i put on a new valve cover gasket, plugs, and wires. charged up the battery and the car turns over but the fuel pump is not running. I took a fuel pump out of a 97 and put it in and still nothing, so i hard wired the pump to the battery and now ive got fuel. i go to start up the car: nothing. It turns over but thats about it. I checked one of the plug wires while cranking the engine and ive got spark. i even sprayed starting fluid in the intake and still nothing. i will check the rest of the wires tomorrow to see if all of them have spark to each accompanying cylinder. Also, I changed that pair of relays by the brake fluid resevoir with ones from a 97 that i know are in perfect working condition. so, in a nutshell, i have fuel, i have spark, and i can get the engine to crank but it wont fire. timing issues? bad ecu? i hope this is enough information... if you guys have any input at all, please share it with me! im quickly running out of ideas

check timing marks. make sure everything lines up. then id say ecu. i dunno

Is this thing stock? Have you hooked up a fuel pressure gauge? I'd check that, the resistance on the coil pack, crank and cam sensors, and the ecu. Your best bet may be a quick ecu swap from the same year just to see if it helps.

Cam or crank sensor. That was the problem with mine; it wasn't giving a CEL at all.

well guys, i replaced the cam angle sensor, the crank angle sensor, and installed a working coil pack and still nothing....im definitely leaning towards the possibility of a bad ecu. ive got pressure in the fuel lines (i pressed on that little valve stem thing on the fuel rail and fuel was forced out of it). i cant get the wheels off of it at the moment because they have locking lug nuts and i dont have a key. i would like to be able to see if the crank is lining up but with the wheel in the way, it's almost impossible. ill see if i can use a mirror tool to find that mark on the crank. ill be back in a bit. btw, thanks guys for the help

Does the car have compression? Do a compression test and post the results. My car would start and it was because I shattered all 4 pistons thus no compression... Does the key dance give you any codes? Does the battery have a good voltage reading? Try hooking jumper cables up to it for 15 minutes then try starting the car with the cables still connected. You dont have to pull the wheel to see the timing marks. You can just pull the plastic panel behind the wheel and if needed the front bumper. then just turn the wheel as if you were going to take a right.

i've got 12.73 volts at the battery so i can rule that out...i dont have the right equipment to do a compression test so that's out of the question for now and i dont think the pistons are damaged because the guy i bought the car from said "i was only going 15 mph when the car quit on me" so im still leaning towards the probability of a bad ecu. here is one of my options: i took the entire wiring harness and computer out of a 97. my plans are to swap out computers, harnesses, and engines all at once. my question is, is there any possibility of screwing something up by swapping harnesses? oh yeah, and the car isnt throwing any codes

You really need to do a compression test, and also check the timing belt. That will rule out one more thing. If you have spark, and you have fuel, then all you need is compression for it to run. You say you have fuel, but after a while of cranking, do your spark plugs have fuel on them? You should easily be able to see and smell the fuel on the plugs if the injectors are firing. If you have spark, and starting fluid didnt make the engine fire, then i'd say you have no or little compression. This could be caused by a jumped/broken timing belt, and bent valves..

Be sure your plugs are firing, be sure fuel is getting INTO the cylinders, and be sure you have compression. Start with the basics, or else you will be chasing your tail forever..

When you have no compression you can hear it when your trying to turn the car over. You may have flooded the spark plugs cranking it over so much. Get some new spark plugs and spray starting fluid in the spark plug holes before you put the plugs back in.

maybe the guy already tried putting a belt on and the valves were bent. you realy need to do a compression test. also pull the fuel rail off to see if the injectors are in fact spraying and if the are how does the spray pattern look. you said you have good spark so its not that. alot of the time the timing belt pulleys fail and fall apart leaving the belt on and if your lucky it only through it out of time far enough so it wont run and you can just put a timing kit on and go. go to auto zone and they will let you use a compression gauge for free.

Bad ECU is a possiblity however, when my ECU died on me I had no spark. Just something to think about...