Engine Swap now new engine will not start

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Z22Dan

Member
I am feeling deflated after going through the ordeal of swapping my dud GM Holden/Vauxhall/Opel Zafira Engine over with a good second hand engineand went to check the operation of it and it just does not seem to run. It turns over fine and seems to have good compression.

There are no fault codes present according to mechanic who came around with a scanner, with the exception of the Air con since the radiator and condenser is still out and hence disconnected I just want to start is and make sure it is all okay before putting the front back together.

It seems that it will eventually start after cranking for a while and holding full throttle. It will run at 500rpm at full throttle but if the throttle is closed, it will straight away stop the engine. The spark plugs are new and I took out and they were carbon black and had wet (fuel) on them. I was thinking that something is stopping the spark from working properly.

The old engine ran okay except it was noisy (conrod bearing) and I am using the new engine (only carried over temp sensor, crank angle sensor and I thing an oil pressure sensor. I am using the original electric loom and coil assembly. I was thinking that there is a problem with the coil connector or something but it seems to look okay. Does the engine know there is no coolant and refuses to spark properly? How would the engine know if there is no coolant and if it it did, what would it do? Can anyone please help? I am stumped.
 
Z

Z22Dan

Member
vexorg said:
Seems to be a very common problem: https://z22se.co.uk/threads/engine-wont-start-after-engine-swap.23836/

And the sticky at the top of the forum needs to be in bold with flames coming off it
Click to expand...

vexorg said:
Seems to be a very common problem: https://z22se.co.uk/threads/engine-wont-start-after-engine-swap.23836/

And the sticky at the top of the forum needs to be in bold with flames coming off it
Click to expand...

I think mine is a different problem since I am using the original proven t/body and loom. I am just checking 12v to the ignition module. Should this be 12v even when the engine not running but just with the ignition to "on"?
 
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Z22Dan

Member
Update!

The 12v to the RED/BLU at the ignition module is not getting 12V so it seems...I found that one problem was the 30A main fuse in the engine compartment had blown at some point in the exercise so I bridged that out and now there is 12v to the ignition module but it still does not want to run. Turn it over and it will try a little bit but it is like it is running really weak. If you hold the throttle flat it will die out after running at 500max for a bit and it sounds weird when it is running. It runs smooth-like but is sooo sluggish, it will not idle for long if at all and then it just won't start any more. That sounds like the thing is flooded but with a very weak spark or something.

One suggestion the mechanic said is put the entire cooling system back together and fill it with coolant then try again. I don't see how this could cause the problem though, the only sensor that I know of is the temperature sensor for coolant, which I assume is okay and reading air temperature and perhaps there exists a level switch on the reservoir but that should not hold the engine from starting. Grrrrrrrrr
 
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Z22Dan

Member
Looks like I'll have to hook up the oil pressure sensor ? I think this is not plugged in. Perhaps this is what is holding it out?
 
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