Something that did occur to me: I checked the #2 plug for spark after replacing the coil, rotor, and cap.

It had a spark and I believe that we can use that to logically infer that the timing chain is not broken.

However, the timing chain having slipped a few teeth seems very plausible to me.


The times that it was hard to start in the past went like this:
Turn key, engine fired immediately, and a fraction of a second a second later the engine died like you shot it in the head. No sputtering or bogging, just wham and a really painful sound like it practically tried to turn backwards.

I will checking the timing tonight (hopefully).

 

Swap the ASD relay, and the horn relay.

 

Ok, check my logic here and let me know if I am wrong:

My BIL gave me a hand and we got cyl #1 close to TDC on the compression stroke by bumping the starter. My BIL then turned the crank with a wrench while I monitored the piston height with a soda straw and stopped at TDC.

We then pulled the distributor cap and the rotor appeared to be pointing straight at where post #1 was.

Again, correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn't that indicate it isn't the timing chain?

 

Sounds like everything is in place there.....

Are your plugs still fouling out?

 

No, the plugs are not wet any more. At least #1 wasn't.

I should also note that we verified a good spark on #1 also tested the fuel pressure with a gauge (around 45-50 PSI).

 

Ok, so, you have spark, you have good fuel pressure, only thing you need to check yet, is are you getting injector pulse?

 

I'm with zman on possible clogged cat. That could create enough pressure to keep it from running possibly.

And with HeyYou on swapping realys and checking for injector pulse.

 

I swapped the ASD and horn relays. The horn still worked fine, so it doesn't appear to have been that.

I was going to check the injector signals - but decided to crank it a couple of times first to see how it acted (since it hadn't been cranked in almost 48 hours).

First try: It almost acted like it wanted to start.

Second try: Almost nothing, but I let it crank for a couple of seconds and it fired up. The RPMs were very low and I thought it was going to shake itself apart. It smoothed out and went to normal idle after a few seconds.


So, what went on here? I dunno. I'm thinking I fixed it when I replaced one of the sensors. Removing each spark plug and drying / cleaning it may have made it fire up at that point.

I don't really like that theory - one reason being that plug #1 was bone dry nearly 48 hours ago.