New engine wont fulyl crank

[SauerKraut]

93 I4
Ok, so i got my engine and tranny back in after I found out I overtorqued the bolts causing a problem somewhere around the flexplate/torque converter.
Problem :2 Most likely tied into problem 1
Now the thing turns over, but after 2 seconds of turning(same duration every time) it slows down then stops(the engine never catches and starts). After it stops I can hear a fast set of clicks(lasts as long as the key is still turned to start) comming from the middle some where. It has fuel, and I will be checking for spark in the morning, but this sounds like an electrical problem. When my fan comes on, I can hear a single loud click from in/near the fuse box, and when it stops, sometimes there is a series of rapid clicks as well(difering in length).
ANY help would be appreciated

My car's been sitting for 7 months now and I would give anything to get it running. I wouldnt mind paying someone a couple hundred bucks if they could get it running either.



EDIT: Going to have to make this a 2 part problem. Above problem occurs when it's being jumpstarted.
Problem :1
Ok, all electrical systems work like they are supposed to(fans work, dash lights work, remote functions work), up until the key gets to *Start*. When the key
gets to start, there is a click from a relay in the fuse box, and EVERYTHING dies. I'm guessing this means I have a short in the system somewhere? Would a faulty ground cause this? All the grounds are where they belong, except for one. I had a spare neg(-) cable)black and yellow) splitting off from the group of wires running to the fuse box/battery. It split off above the tranny, and I thought I remembered it sitting around there, so I grounded it to the tranny. Anyone know where its supposed to go? Ill take a pic later today.

[turboed94pgt]

yes a ground would I have had my car do this after the atx to mtx swap..are you SURE you got anything and everyground? i though i did and I missed a ground..also things to cheak do you have power to the starter? you should have 12v to the big bolt and around 12 to the s trm when the key is to start if you do then pull the starter and have it tested.if not something is cut grounded or unpluged.did you unplug and unblot everylittle thing befor pulling the motor and make sure no wire at all not hung up? i know i miss a couple wires and bolts ..btw I brunt my guages up tring to start it when it has doing something like this donot hold the key to start just tap it tell you fix it.if you miss a ground or have a short it will brunt something up i did 2 times now sad thing is i have been working on car for 10year and the probe 5 years and I still miss [shizzle] and do it wrong ill to thing of what ground i missed

[SauerKraut]

When I tried to start it by jumping it, there was power to the starter. But by battery alone, everything dies when the key is turned on. I'll clean my battery posts and see if that helps.

Ok, the other grounds are good, but I have no idea where this guy bolts too.



It's the yellow/black wire to the right of my thumb. I mounted it to the tranny.

If any of you know where the other circled connector goes to, dont be shy. Based on the amount of corrosion on the terminals, I dont believe it was hooked up before.

Edit: Ok, so it turns oververy slowly, and refuses to start. The neg terminal/wire on my battery gets incredibly hot. Would this be from a crappy ground, or the starter having too much resistance against it?

[donfromnaples]

Double check wiring on starter (especially the ground wire), also what about the solenoid valve on the firewall (is it connected correctly, and/or does it or the wires to it get real hot?), also double check your Mass Air Flow sensor being hooked up completely and your EGR too (no vacuum leaks).

[SauerKraut]

I have no EGR valve, the port has been blocked up. It's throwing the EGR code, but I was under the impression that the car should run without it.

Umm, what do you mean by the solonoid on the firewall? You mean the starter solonoid? I have an I4 and I believe the solonoid is buddied up against the starter motor, unless you are talking about something else.

The car cranks slowly, maybe 1/2 as fast as it should, and I can hear a whump whump sound which I presume to be the cylenders firing. The crankshaft is harder to turn(maybe 2x as hard as my origional), so if I have spark/fuel/compression, would the bitchin hard crank be enough to stop it from turning over and starting?

[midnightmekanik]

Originally Posted by SauerKraut

Edit: Ok, so it turns oververy slowly, and refuses to start. The neg terminal/wire on my battery gets incredibly hot. Would this be from a crappy ground, or the starter having too much resistance against it?

If your neg post is getting hot, you need to take off that connection and clean it well. Where ever there is heat, there is resistance... It could be the wire itself that attaches to the post clamp, it could be the clamp itself. Heat at that post suggests a serious resistance problem.

[SauerKraut]

Battery terminal was cleaned, smoke stopped. I keep resetting it, and I guess I forgot to tighten it again. I'm going to recheck everything again tomorrow and cross my fingers.

Quick question regarding electrical systems though... I tried to jumpstart my mx6 with my Saturn and odd thing occured( to me anyway). I tried cranking the mx6 4 times, and on the 4th crank, the saturn reved low then died.... Now it(saturn) wont hold a charge... How did it screw up my battery? I had the terminals on correctly, and followed mazda's order for attaching the cable's alligator clips. Did it somehow reverse my saturn's battery's polarity?!? I'm confused...

[midnightmekanik]

Originally Posted by SauerKraut

Battery terminal was cleaned, smoke stopped. I keep resetting it, and I guess I forgot to tighten it again. I'm going to recheck everything again tomorrow and cross my fingers.

Quick question regarding electrical systems though... I tried to jumpstart my mx6 with my Saturn and odd thing occured( to me anyway). I tried cranking the mx6 4 times, and on the 4th crank, the saturn reved low then died.... Now it(saturn) wont hold a charge... How did it screw up my battery? I had the terminals on correctly, and followed mazda's order for attaching the cable's alligator clips. Did it somehow reverse my saturn's battery's polarity?!? I'm confused...

Either it was a strange coincidence, or your saturns battery was on it's way out, or there is a huge draw in the mazda. Seeing that you have the hot neg post, and you just pooped your battery in your other car, I would seriously look for shorts in the system. I would start at the starter. Try putting in an inline fuse before the starter. Use a 30 or 40 amp fuse and see if it blows when you try to start it. I'm not sure what the fusible link is rated on these cars, but most I've worked on were anywhere from 40-100amps. This is all depending on size of motor. I would venture to guess that our 6's should be ~50 amps. I'm sure if you research it, you will find the proper value. The fusible link is always more than it should be for the starter, it's just to prevent bigger problems like fires or something.

Checking these things you should probably get a better understanding of what's going on. Electrical issues are NEVER fun, and always a PITA, but for your benefit diagnose and repair it properly.

[SauerKraut]

Ok, I'll check into the inline fuse, but I'm pretty sure it al has something to do with it being rather hard to turn over. I checked the crankshaft with a torque wrench, and it required 40lbs of torque just to rotate it. Espescially with this being a 4 cylender, that seems a little high... If the starter has this much resistance against it, I can see that wasted energy(of starter not cranking nearly as fast as it should) turning into heat in my wires.

[midnightmekanik]

Originally Posted by SauerKraut

Ok, I'll check into the inline fuse, but I'm pretty sure it al has something to do with it being rather hard to turn over. I checked the crankshaft with a torque wrench, and it required 40lbs of torque just to rotate it. Espescially with this being a 4 cylender, that seems a little high... If the starter has this much resistance against it, I can see that wasted energy(of starter not cranking nearly as fast as it should) turning into heat in my wires.

Are you talking 40lbs of force on the compression stroke? Or just any old time? Try pulling the plugs and cranking. If that doesn't alleviate the force required, you may have something binding up inside the motor... I'm not sure if the I4 in an interference motor, but, is your timing dead on? You might be hitting the valves?

Try the sparkplug thing first... It could be something as simple as a weak starter motor trying to push against the compression...

[SauerKraut]

35-40lbs of force required at any time. The timing was off, but I set it correctly. It wouldnt move at all, but then I torqued the bottom tranny->Engine bolts to minimum spec and it helped a lot. Im thinking of doing the same to the rest of te bolts I guess

[D'sMx-6]

Have you cleaned up all of your grounding points? Also, check that starter. How long was that engine sitting for? Perhaps it's corrosion inside the engine that's making it so hard to turn over.

[SauerKraut]

I'm thinking it is corrosion inside the engine, can I flush it with kerosine? I dont think I can as the engine wouldnt be on for the flush. Is there any other cleaing stuff you guys suggest?
The engine was imported from japan, but I have no idea how long it has sat for. The starter is fine as I just bought it, and I snugged up the connections on it.

[93BLKBeAuTy]

1 rule NEVER EVER EVER EVER flush an engine, take it apart and clean it right, you could very well flush the "good" deposits you have in the engine, everybody has there opinion, im a tech and have seen first hand what it does to engines, just my .02 good luck, proper disassembly recommended lol.

[donfromnaples]

Was your Mazda cranking when you had it hooked up to the Saturn? I am wondering about your alternator too on your Mazda. This just doesn't sound good.