My brother replaced the rear main seal on his 98 Ranger, 2.5L. When he bolted the torque converter back on the flywheel, 1 of the 3 chalk markings he marked prior to removing the converter, was not lined up right. A friend of his who was helping told him not to worry about it. They got everything back together and now it will crank just fine, but won't start.

It sounds like it wants to start, but won't. To me it sounds like the firing order is off, but they never touched the coil packs or wires. So my question is, could what they did have messed up the firing order somehow? I know how to check this on a distributor engine, but not with coil packs. We tried putting the number 1 cylinder at TDC and cranking it. It sounded like it was closer to starting, but still didn't. Of course we didn't have the right size socket to turn the crank manual in order to set the #1 cylinder at TDC, so we bumped it using the key until we were as close as possible.

I know with a distributor engine, you can put #1 at TDC, point the rotor at the #1 plug, and you're good to go. Is there a similar method with these distributorless systems?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

i dont know about cars but on a diesel engine if the flywheel is not indexed properly the engine will crank and crank but not fire. the diesel had a "hunting" gear on the flywheel for timing, every rotation of the crank is two rotations of the cam and the markings need to meet in order to fire

 

Hmm... i dont know if this relates to your situation, but there should be a little red button under your passenger side dash. Push it once and then try to start the truck.

 

the torque converters orientation to the flywheel doesnt matter, and i dont think the crank sensor is on the rear of the crank like the 3.5 v6 and ecoboosts are...maybe a fuel line got pinched or part of the wiring harness is punched somewhere where the bellhousing bolts up to the engine?

 

try resetting the fuel pump as well