Starter engaging and cranking motor, but no start. (1 Viewer)

[thekitchensink]

Hey all, I've been in the process of replacing my radiator(s) for a little over a month (long story short, I seem to only receive defective radiators...). I got everything buttoned up for hopefully the last time and was going to start it up to burp the radiator, but the battery was dead. No problem, I'll jumpstart from my tacoma. Did that, and the starter just whirred. No ignition. Replaced my starter, and I have the same problem. The starter seems to engage, but the motor isn't igniting. Checked fusible links, and they seem to be good. It'll crank, it just isn't starting (see this video for what is happening:




Any thoughts on what to check? Could it be spark plugs? Distributor?
I'm going camping on Thursday and would really like to take the Cruiser.

 

[thekitchensink]

Ok. Pulled spark plug #1, and it looked pretty nasty. Tested for spark and it had one, but it wasn't a blue spark. I went ahead and replaced the plug and tried to start again and it started, it was rough, so I feathered the gas pedal and all of a sudden it exploded. Coolant went flying and I smelled gas. Shut off the engine quickly and went to inspect. I found the shroud and fan had made contact and both of them exploded... thankfully the radiator is ok. Still don't know why coolant went flying out the top of the radiator (cap was off... was letting it burp on jack stands).

Anyway, I pulled the shroud off and tried to start it again and it started up, but didn't sound right. I'll replace all the spark plugs and put a spare fan on. But I'll need to source a shroud.

 

[BILT4ME]

Do you have a blown head gasket that caused that much pressure?

What else did you do? Change plug wires or distributor O-Ring? Maybe timing is off or plug wires in the wrong place?

That's not a common thing to have happen.

You say the starter is "whirring" That indicates that it is not engaging and not actually cranking the engine.
Cranking means the engine is turning over, whether or not it starts. (This means the starter is working)
Once cranking, did it fire? If so, then did it start?

Crank
Fire
Start
Run

"All of a sudden, it exploded"

What did? The block? The head? or just a coolant hose?

The fan contacting the shroud would not cause coolant to spray all over.

Please work on your descriptions and "diagnosis". This helps the rest of us understand to help you.

Exploded would be something like the radiator splitting the top tank while under pressure. Or the head blowing a plug out, or a rod coming loose and knocking a hole in the side of the block, or the entire engine starting on fire.

Spark Plug #1 looked "nasty" Please describe "nasty".
Black and wet (smells like gas)
Black and oily
White, almost like new
Black and dry
Brown and dry
Black and crusty with stuff crusted over the end
Brown and crusty with stuff crusted over the end
Light grey and crusty with stuff crusted over the end
Clean, but very light brown, almost grey

Each of the above depicts a different diagnosis scenario.
Fuel fouling
Oil Fouling
Coolant leak in cylinder
Running rich
Normal operation
Burning large amounts of oil
Burning coolant
Burning oil and running lean
Running lean

 

[landcruisertx]

I just had this problem, I would first replace Fusible Link (OEM 90982-08264, and junction box 82670-60040)

 

[lumbee1]

I just had this problem, I would first replace Fusible Link (OEM 90982-08264, and junction box 82670-60040)

He was able to get it started. With a popped fusible link, you get crank but no fire.

 

[thekitchensink]

Ok. Sorry for the miscommunication and bad descriptions. I’ll try to clarify and clear up some mis-understandings, as well as update what has happened the past week or so.

First, I’ll answer some of @BILT4ME ’s questions:

- No, I don’t have a blown head gasket.

- I have changed the dizzy cap and rotor recently, but that was over 500mi ago and have had no problems since. I did not change plug wires or dizzy o-ring.

- Yes, the starter was “whirring”. It sounded as though it was just spinning (i.e. not engaging the flywheel), however it was turning the motor over (I could see the fan moving when attempting to start the truck, as evidenced by the video in my first post). It appeared to be no spark or no fuel. I opted to check spark since that was easiest. I took spark plug #1 out and held it against a bolt on the block to ground it and had my sister crank the truck so I could check for spark. I saw spark, and it sounded like the engine was actually trying to fire (it didn’t sound like this before I took the spark plug out. See the video above for what it sounded like). I changed out #1 spark plug, and attempted again to start it up. That’s when I heard the “explosion”.

Ok, maybe explosion was the wrong term, but that sure is what it sounded like. Upon further investigation, I have determined that when I put the shroud back on I failed to fully seat it in the lower tabs (yes, I did check fan-to-shroud clearances by manually turning the fan before I started the truck, and didn’t see any contact). Upon starting up, the fan contacted the shroud and broke a blade off. That blade went flying into my new radiator and punctured 12 columns in the bottom-middle of the radiator. The fluid that I saw spray everywhere was coolant that had come out of the puncture and was picked up by the fan, spraying everywhere before I could shut the engine back off.

The damage:

A picture of the old spark plugs. Left to right: #1-6

(#1 was accidentally dropped, which is why the gap is incorrect and the tip is white.) Doesn’t look too bad to me. I know I do burn some oil though.

Now for the update:
I had a local shop (Sim’s Radiator Service in Lawrenceville, GA. Great guys!) repair a Liland Global all aluminum radiator that I was originally planning on returning (stripped transmission oil cooler nipple). They welded a nipple onto it so I could get the truck running for the upcoming weekend camping trip. I also gave them the damaged radiator to fix.

I picked up a new shroud from Toyota Marietta, and installed everything between classes Thursday morning before the trip. The Liland radiator has worked well. I never saw temps rise above 200 degrees Fahrenheit during the trip last weekend and since. Ever since I took the #1 spark plug out, tested it for spark, and replaced all 6 plugs with new Denso units, I haven’t had a problem with the truck starting up. I’m still not entirely sure what the “no-start” issue was, but it’s gone now.

Hope that clarifies everything. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I came back from camping and went straight into mid-terms. I'm happy to answer any more questions. Let me know, and I'll do my best to answer them.

 

[BILT4ME]

Good to hear it's running!

Sorry for the radiator issue! That suck when that stuff happens!

Your plugs don't look too bad at all. You're burning a tiny bit of oil on #3, 4, 5. It definitely needed new ones!

 

[TNOverlander]

So mine did something very similar a few months ago. Mine started and then died like I let go of the key a hair too early. As I turned the key again it sounded like yours in the video which is to say it sounded like it had no compression on any cylinders. I checked all fusible links, it had spark, fuel coming from pressure regulator return. It didn’t start for days. When I was about to check compression, it randomly started and hasn’t had an issue since.

My buddy suggested maybe idle air control valve had been the problem, and I did some google searching and found some instances where the idle air control valve was stuck closed which then showed basically no compression on any cylinders as no air was coming in to compress. Then the gas pedal was pressed and compression was good and the car started and ran, which kind of makes sense given your description too regarding feathering it and it coming to life.

Mine hasn’t acted up at all since then and I’ve probably put a couple thousands miles on it since.