late model 96 camry w/early '96 5sfe engine swap problems

[gtturbo93]

hi all,

this is my first post on TN but i have been on here for the past 2 weeks searching through the archives to find what information i need to complete this odd ball swap. i have a late model 96 camry and trying to swap in an early model '96 5sfe (same as 92-95 5sfe). i really wish i would have researched this before hand so that i would have known that there were 2 different '96 5sfe engines. just my luck to end up with the early model '96 5sfe.

anyhow through searching through the old posts, i swapped over the oil pump plate w/crank position sensor and timing gear w/tabs on there. i also swapped over the distributor, throttle body because it has different vacuum hard lines on there, and re-routed the vacuum lines to a late model '96 camry. i also changed the timing belt and replaced all the seals and water pump.

now the motor is dropped in, everything is connected up, but the motor will not fire. the engine cranks fine, once in a while i can hear the engine fire off a couple pops as if it is trying to start up. these are not loud backfire type of pops, but more of what you normally hear when an engine starts up.

Troubleshooting:
so i have checked for spark with each spark plug wire by putting in a spark plug and setting it on the block. spark appears to be good. i have checked for fuel by actually draining the fuel tank by releasing the fuel filter bolt and hooking up a hose to that. i then turned the key to on and drained whatever old gas was in the tank. there was some nasty dark looking gas in there. refilled it with fresh fuel. as for timing, i re-checked my work and set the crank to 0 and sure enough the cam gear hole is lined up with the notch. i have also done a compression check and cylinders #1-3 are at 180 with #4 being a little low at 165, which should still be ok. i have double checked all connections from ECU to fuse box to make sure everything is connected up. at this point i am kind of out of ideas.

one question i do have is that when i was doing the timing belt, i rotated the camshaft gear 360 deg a couple of times but i don't remember how many times i rotated it exactly. is it possible that when i put on the belt even with the crank pulley set at 0, the camshaft is set out of phase with the crank? any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[Eye8Pussies]

dumb question...but it happens all the time....since you've pretty much done all of the other trouble shooting...did you check to make sure everything else on the wiring harness was hooked up? i.e. maf sensor?

[gtturbo93]

yes all critical connectors have been accounted for and connected to the appropriate connector. 5sfe doesn't have a MAF.

i went to autozone and loaned a diagnostic code reader. the only code that shows up is a P0773. something to do with the shift solenoid sensor, but from my search this should not affect engine startup.

[Eye8Pussies]

^ yeah, it won't affect the engine start up


might be time to double check everything again and then maybe take it to a mechanic?


if you've checked everything and there's fuel/spark/compression/ecu signal/crank, then there isn't much else...I wonder if the ecu went bad or something, but you're getting obdII diagnostic codes and no bad codes like crank/cam, etc.

this is a noodle scratcher for sure

[gtturbo93]

problem solved!!! turns out i had put the distributor in 180 deg the wrong way. damn noobie mistake, i thought it didn't matter which way you put it in, but now i know better. once i corrected that, turned the key and it came to life instantly. time to put everything else back together.

[Eye8Pussies]

^ great to hear that! simple problem, simple solution even if it's a stupid problem, is better than a big problem.

good job double checking everything....I don't know if I would have had the patience to double and triple check things so many times