[SOLVED] Car won't start after valve cleaning

syzygy

Greenie N00B Member
Greenie Member
Year/Make/Model: 2006 Mazda Speed 6
Mileage: 100'000 miles
Location: U.S
Concern:
DTC's: None
Modifications Cold Air Intake
ECU/Tuning Software: Cobb Access Port, currently no tune
Tuner: N/A
Is the concern intermittent? No
Can you duplicate the concern? Yes
Recent Repairs:
Correction:

Okay currently took the time this weekend to clean the valves. I followed the common guide on mazdaspeeds.org and watched the YouTube video by corksport.

I did not use the media blaster and just stuck with using b12 chem tool and long picks. I also redid the power steering system in the vehicle but I do not think this is related to the issue.

Car will crank but will not start. The following is what I have gathered or believe to be true.

I am very confident I did not drop anything into the engine. After removing the intake valve 4 was open and the other three were closed. I cleaned the first three and then manually rotated the crankshaft pully until valve 2 had opened and valve 4 was closed, i then repeated the process. Regardless I am confident that nothing fell past the valves.

There were no major complications when putting everything back together. Visually, I don't see any potential vacuum leaks or weak hose clamps, but I will admit I am not seasoned on this and may be missing something. If there is a potential vacuum leak, how to find it and where are common places that can occur.

Car is currently throwing no codes.
I double- checked the ground wire near the coil packs and ensured it was clean and tightly bolted.
Access port is showing throttle body position with 7-10%.
AP RPM is showing 114, dashboard tachometer is not moving.
Serpentine belt and crankshaft pulley are visibly moving while trying to start the car.
Battery is at 13.7 volts, also tried with other vehicle.
AFR is reading 14.85 and does not fluctuate from that value.
Cam sensor defintely reading the gears, I can hear it whurring when it senses a tooth.

Does the cam sensor have to be properly alligned in order to work? Could this be the issue?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, hoping to drive to work this weekend.


I haven't troubleshooted plugs, but I can't imagine why they would be acting up, all the coil packs are secure and properly plugged in.


Edit:
Some additional information:
I’ve had the nose end of the car jacked up for a few days.

I noticed on the crankshaft pulley/ harmonic balancer, there was a marking on pulley, that lined up with either the 20th or 21st gear tooth counterclockwise from the tooth gap. I rotated the crankshaft pulley clockwise until the cam sensor lined up with that tooth. After doing this,
It threw code P2088 once. I can smell fuel, and it sounds really close to starting, crank spark, combustion, it’s just not quite there.


Any help would be appreciated.


SOLVED

I accidentally figured it out by doing the following.

I jacked up the front passenger side of the car in hope of accessing the crankshaft pulley. While having only the passenger front jacked up, I figured I would try starting the car one more time. After about 5 seconds I was able to start the vehicle. There was lots of white smoke at first, definitely indicating that I got some of the cleaner into the engine. Most likely due to not having valve 4 at proper TDC. Car is running wayyyy better now, so glad I cleaned the valves. I did end up messing up the vtcs. But I will make a seperate thread for that issue. Thank you to everyone that helped, and if this post could be marked as solved to help people in the future.
 
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did you have the injectors out for a cleaning too? if not smelling fuel is probably flooding the engine vs a leaking injector seal so that's good.

cam sensor just needs to be plugged in on the valve cover, ensure that's seated properly, have you traced all electrical connections? ensuring proper connection, I've forgotten to connect my throttle body and it sounds about how you described what's going on with you when it's not connected.
 
did you have the injectors out for a cleaning too? if not smelling fuel is probably flooding the engine vs a leaking injector seal so that's good.

cam sensor just needs to be plugged in on the valve cover, ensure that's seated properly, have you traced all electrical connections? ensuring proper connection, I've forgotten to connect my throttle body and it sounds about how you described what's going on with you when it's not connected.

I did not touch the injector seals, however they were done a year or so back I want to say, new injectors, this was a shop and not done by myself.

the throttle body is plugged in, but when I plug In the connector there is no audible click. It’s hard to tell if the plug is properly secured as I am not used the design. Beyond that, all of the connections seem secure and I took off the TMIC to double check the connections.

And I mispoke, I meant to ask about the crankshaft sensor snd pulley.
 
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First time I did my valves it was a PITA to start back up. Had to hook up another car to keep cranking for (in total) about a minute, but it started up eventually. YMMV.
 
First time I did my valves it was a PITA to start back up. Had to hook up another car to keep cranking for (in total) about a minute, but it started up eventually. YMMV.
I have given a solid amount of time to try and start, the engine is definitely catching just not able to fully start.
 
SOLVED

I accidentally figured it out by doing the following.

I jacked up the front passenger side of the car in hope of accessing the crankshaft pulley. While having only the passenger front jacked up, I figured I would try starting the car one more time. After about 5 seconds I was able to start the vehicle. There was lots of white smoke at first, definitely indicating that I got some of the cleaner into the engine. Most likely due to not having valve 4 at proper TDC. Car is running wayyyy better now, so glad I cleaned the valves. I did end up messing up the vtcs. But I will make a seperate thread for that issue. Thank you to everyone that helped, and if this post could be marked as solved to help people in the future.
 
glad she's running, dont forget to take it for a drive and then do an oil change, you dont want that cleaner in your oil

SOLVED

I did end up messing up the vtcs. But I will make a seperate thread for that issue.

What happened? there's lots of threads on VTCS issues already, you may be able to find a solution out there however the built in search function sucks, I reccomend googling the issue with it restricted to this website: VTCS site:mazdaspeeds.org will return only threads on MSO
 
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