I changed the timing belt on my 98 MS. It won't start now. I took everything off to see if it had jumped a tooth and it had. Installed everything again. Still won't start. I removed everything again (third time in two days) to see if it jumped the tooth again and everything lined up perfect. To make sure I even went as far as taking off the intake manifold and Passenger side valve cover to see if #1 was indeed TDC, it was. So I installed everything again (i can do it with my eyes closed now) and, you guessed it, still won't start.

Can anybody give me some ideas as to why this is happening? All three marks are dead on.

Thanks for any help.

Please, any help would be great.

I can't think of any obvious reasons do you need to reset the ECU? Maybe more info would help. When you turn the key, exactly what happens?

Well, I'm no master troubleshooter so hopefully someone who's more adept will chime in.

In the mean time...

IIRC you need fuel, air and spark for combustion to occur. What's missing for your rig?

Check for spark by removing a plug and trying to start your rig with the plug held close to the engine block. If there's a spark then that should be ok.

Now check for fuel. Does the inside of the chamber smell of gasoline?

As for checking for compression/air, more than likely air is getting in but we can check the compression w/ a gauge although I would expect this isn't the main issue.

Look for a crank sensor disconnected. Very common across all makes.

When I turn the key, the engine turns. It sounds as if my battery was a bit low, slow turn over, the battery is fully charged though.

I do have fuel and air. I will check spark next.

Where is the crank sensor? I can check that also.

Thanks for ideas so far.

I'm not 100% sure but IIRC it's in your distributor.

Checked the sensor and it's connected. I do have a spark on #1. I have taken everything off again down to the belt. I am checking everything again to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'll check back here if there are any more ideas.

Check the firing order. The cap outer wire tits do NOT match up with the rotor spark tits inside the dizzy. Firing order is 1-2-3-4-5-6. Spark plug wires DO NOT go on in that order. If you have spark, you should have fuel, too. I think it's a timing issue. One cylinder is most forward on the engine. That's #1, with 3 & 5 on the same side. Other side is 2-4-6. Take the cap off and figure which is #1 on the INSIDE of the cap, then number the outside terminals based on the inside position and install the wires.

Next, check the tach as you crank it. Any flicker in the gauge? This also indicates you have spark. Any poots or backfires? This would indicate wrong firing order.

Check this stuff and report back, and we'll figure it out.

If its a 98 Montero Sport, he has no distributer.