Rough running, then no start after head gasket swap

[Crispy]

So I finally got my burb buttoned up after the head gasket swap. It fired up and idled on the first shot after I finished reassembly. I let it run for only a minute or so since I didnt put coolant in yet. After filling the cooling system I started her back up and ran it till the thermo opened and circulated the fresh coolant. A few minutes after it started idling rough and shut down. Now it just cranks and wont start. I'm not getting a check engine light. Any clues? Or suggestions on where I can go from here?


Prior to final reassembly the valves were adjusted (probably not 100% as they sounded a little chattery but close)
Distributor was pointing to cylinder 1, with engine at TDC. Cap went on in relation to the dizzy.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

Did something get pinched a wire a forgotten ground check your ECM fuses

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Is it cranking easily?

 

[Crispy]

I doubt anything got pinched since it started and idled fine till it warmed up. All I did between the start and no start situation was add coolant. I am gonna double check my vacuum lines though.

Its cranking strong, I had the battery on a charger while I was working on it so I wouldn't drain it.

It'll crank now and sound like its about to catch but it never fires off. If I give it some gas it seems to get closer to firing but still nothing.

EDIT:

Just to be clear this is a 350 TBI, original engine.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Well squirt some fuel down the TB and see what it does

 

[Crispy]

Gonna do that tonight when I get home. Ran outta daylight yesterday. Now I never reset the timing with a light. Do I need to?

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Gonna do that tonight when I get home. Ran outta daylight yesterday. Now I never reset the timing with a light. Do I need to?

Yes, with the ESC disconnected, to 0 °

 

[Crispy]

Hoping that does it. Thanks.

Does it make sense that it ran fine then didnt?

 

[Honky Kong jr]

Do you get a MIL when you turn the key to the on position?

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Hoping that does it. Thanks.

Does it make sense that it ran fine then didnt?

No, that's why I wonder if you got the gasket screwed up or something, but if you don't have a cylinder filling with water, and since it spins over you don't, then that's not likely.

 

[4WDKC]

original dist? Check ECM B fuse

 

[Crispy]

I would hate to tear it apart again due to a mistake on my part. I'm very confident that I got the gaskets on without damaging them. I'm going to check compression and that fuse.

I'm pullin out the work light tonight, I totally forgot about daylight savings time and its gonna be dark by the time I get home.

EDIT: As far as I can tell its the original distributor.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

I hope it isn’t misfiring due to coolant in the cylinders from a crack in the cylinder wall or bad or improperly installed gasket. Not being ****** just you said it ran ok till you put coolant in it. I didn’t want to be that guy but nobody stepped up to be him so I did.

 

[Crispy]

Its not bein ******, its callin what you see and theres nothing wrong with that. I wouldnt know if the cylinder wall is cracked since I never pulled the block to do this job. Kinda wishing I did now. I used a Mahle gasket set since they were out of the fel pro by me but I took my sweet ass time setting them down.

It ran fine with the coolant in also. It took a few minutes after it was warmed up for it to sputter and even then it would stay running if I gave it some gas.

Well I have to tear back into it I'm either upgrading or going LS swap. The thing has 166k on it and this going to be Mrs. get around car, so I dont want any issues. I'm gonna pull the plugs and see if there are any signs of fouling from that short run then work my way down the list. I was hoping it was one of those "hey you just missed this" kinda problems.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Its not bein ******, its callin what you see and theres nothing wrong with that. I wouldnt know if the cylinder wall is cracked since I never pulled the block to do this job. Kinda wishing I did now. I used a Mahle gasket set since they were out of the fel pro by me but I took my sweet ass time setting them down.

It ran fine with the coolant in also. It took a few minutes after it was warmed up for it to sputter and even then it would stay running if I gave it some gas.

Well I have to tear back into it I'm either upgrading or going LS swap. The thing has 166k on it and this going to be Mrs. get around car, so I dont want any issues. I'm gonna pull the plugs and see if there are any signs of fouling from that short run then work my way down the list. I was hoping it was one of those "hey you just missed this" kinda problems.

No, the plug's will tell the story. Once it get's up to temp, the pressure rises, sometimes that's enough to push it through where it wouldn't before.