Good morning, and thank you for looking at this post. So the ‘99 VDP will not start :/.

The job started as fixing a cylinder 3 misfire, as that is what the codes said. She was really rough at idle and the first thing I did was buy all 8 brand new coils. Took it for a test drive and it was running extremely better with a smoother idle, but you could definitely still feel the slight misfire at stoplights. After a few drives it became just as worse as before, slipping in and out of restricted performance. Typically when sitting still to moving.

Next thing I did was order new OEM fuel injectors. I DISCONNECTED THE BATTERY TO DO THE JOB, NOW WONDERING IF THAT WAS A MISTAKE?

I put 4 injectors in the suspected bank that was misfiring, and put everything back together to try and start it, and nothing. Cranks and cranks but refuses to start.

I definitely have spark, and my fuel pressure gauge reads 41 psi at the rail. I have checked all fuses and switched around relays, and tested relay inputs with multimeter. I’ve tested fuel injector connector pins with a multimeter and noid lights, both signaling they’re getting pulse. I also checked the inertia switch to see if that was tripped since I was messing around with wires in the bay, and it was not.

I just cannot figure it out. If this helps, here’s a little background of the car. I got it from a gentleman who was moving across the country and it was broken down from a failed transmission. Figured out the zf5hp24 transmission is notoriously known to fail and saw a couple videos on it so took a chance and bought it. Pulled and rebuilt it in my driveway/garage. Also replaced the notorious plastic timing chain guides and tensioners and put a new fuel filter on it. At this point it also includes new coils that have been tried and true and new injectors that have technically never been used.

My next plan is to swap the crank position sensor since I own a spare.

1. Do any of you know if there is a second component of the car that tells the fuel pump to keep sending fuel whether than just turning it on? I definitely hear the pump kicking on with the key in on position.

2. WAS DISCONNECTING THE BATTERY A MISTAKE? Could I have made the ECM malfunction? If I could rule this out it would be quite settling.

3. Could cylinder wash be a culprit? It is a Nikasil engine but was running just the day before replacing injectors. The forums I have seen for cylinder wash typically say that the car has been siting for some time but not sure if I should rule that out?


At this point I almost want to tow it up to the JAG dealer. I’m a college student and part time worker so that would be monetarily/financially difficult. Battery power is also fine as I have a charger and it has been tested.

Any comments or knowledge on the subject is greatly appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to look at this post and offer any help.

 

What DTCs are stored in the system?

Bore wash is certainly a possibility.

Did you replace the primary and secondary timing chains, guides and tensioners? Or where just the secondary tensioners replaced?

 

I will post all codes when I can read them again. And primary and secondary were replaced.