Ok guys...i have a 1996 dodge ram 1500 318 5.2 liter. So far the story is, i had a blown headgasket. Took the heads off to find one cracked. Replaced both heads and gaskets. Put everything back together. (Marked all bolts) everything went right into place. Went to start. And it backfired through the carb. Replaced the whole distibutor. Set the motor to TDC. Rotor positioned to cyliner 1. Once again everything set right into place. Didnt start again. Test the spark on cylinder 1. It was very weak also the rest of the wires. Replaced all wires, plugs. Still weak spark. Replaced crank scensor, still weak spark. Replaced egnition coil. Still weak spark. Dont know what else i can do. There is two wires i dnt have connected. I believe its the two temp scensors the connect on top of the intake. Both connectors have to be replaced due to corrosion. Any ideas on why i cant get this thing to crank. Also the battery is good. And its getting gas. Can smell the unburnt gas while trying to crank.

 

You are probably missing a ground somewhere. There is like three of them up near the power steering pump, and lesser grounds to the back of each head. (I think) That would also give you a weak starter motor as well.

Welcome to DF! Going to move this to the second gen ram section for ya.

 

Moving the distributor does not change timing. Cylinder # 1 tdc (ON THE COMPRESSION STROKE!) You need to set the distributor like this...

 

My stepfather showed me how to set the distibutor. He has been a mechanic for 20 years so its easy for him. Solving this problem ehhh....... The problem is a weak spark. I just looked over the ground wires as far as i can tell there is one on the power steering pump. One that comes off of the wire harness by the vaccume pump. I have that one attached at the top of the vaccume pump with the wire that was on the back of the head. (Together) because the wire broke so i spliced it, and didnt want to mess around trying to get it screwed back in the back of the head. There is one screwed in behind the head by cylinder #8. And one on the valve cover.. im not sure if there is more. i dnt see any loose wires.

 

Vacuum pump? What engine?

 

Im sorry. Its not a vaccume pump. Its the a.c compressor. Im still learning.

 

Should be at least two on the power steering pump..... Could try just running a fat wire from the engine, to the negative side of the battery. See if anything changes.

 

Didnt help anything with the fat wire. I dnt rememberif i mentioned there was two scensors i didnt hook back up because they need replacing. Its the two temp scensors by the thermostat hose. I think one receives info from the coolant and one sends info to the pcm. I think one of those scensors ground the pcm. Haven't tried it yet. What do you think?

 

One of the temp sensors is for the gauge in the dash. (one wire.) The other is for the PCM. (two wire.) With the PCM sensor unhooked, the PCM thinks engine temp is -40..... so it will positively DUMP fuel trying to get a mixture that will burn. If it isn't actually -40, the engine will flood in short order. Need to fix at least that sensor.